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Alex Ley heads BRC Hyundai 1-2 in Mugello qualifying

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Series debutant Alex Ley headed a BRC Racing Team Hyundai 1-2 in the first TCR Europe qualifying session of 2026 at Mugello in Italy, beating team-mate Gabriele Covini by four tenths of a second.

Tiago Pernía impressed on his series debut as well by claiming the third fastest time for Squadra Martino Honda, just 11 thousands of a second from second place.

TCR Spain champion Mike Halder (Honda) set the fourth fastest time, more than seven tenths from pole, while Junesung Park made it three Hyundais in the top five.

Marco Butti was fastest of the Cupra drivers in seventh place for Monlau Motorsport, just over a second slower than Ley.

The PMA Motorsport Audi duo of Nicola Baldan and Nicolas Taylor secured sixth and tenth overall, with the latter claiming the reversed grid pole position for Race 2.

Butti’s Monlau Motorsport team-mate Viktor Andersson claimed ninth place and had an off-track excursion during his final Q2 attempt which saw the Swede unable to improve on his first time.

ALM Motorsport drivers Max Hart and Ruben Volt failed to make it to the Q2 session, finishing eleventh and 12th respectively.

The first race of the season starts at 18:00 CET.