Felipe Fernández takes pole for opening TCR Europe race at Spa

Felipe Fernández has claimed pole position for the opening TCR Europe Series race of the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Auto Club RC2 Valles Honda driver set a best time of 2:26.586 in the second segment of qualifying to emerge just under half a second clear of nearest rival Mike Halder

With the 10th quickest time in Q2, Gabriele Covini will start the reversed grid second race on Sunday from pole in his BRC Racing Team Hyundai Elantra N TCR.

Meanwhile, it was a day to forget for TCR Europe Series points leader and Covini’s team-mate Alex Ley, who will start both races from the back after bringing out the red flag in Q1.

Following the early stoppage, it was Nicolas Taylor who set the first representative lap-time in Q1, with his effort of 2:27.601 some three-tenths of a second quicker than Ruben Volt’s Honda Civic Type-R.

A flurry of improvements then followed, with Viktor Andersson initially setting the second-fastest time before losing it due to a track limits infringement.

Nicola Baldan was therefore the nearest challenger to Taylor’s best time, fractionally ahead of Volt and the Monlau Motorsport Cupra León VZ TCR of Adam Shepherd.

After a brief visit to the pits, Volt then produced a superb effort to move his ALM Motorsport Honda to the top of the table, just seven-hundredths of a second quicker than team-mate Mike Halder, with Taylor slipping to third.

Taylor, comfortable with his early time, remained in the pits as Felipe Fernández improved to third inside the final minute.

Late efforts from Marco Butti (Monlau Motorsport) and Junesung Park (Solite Indigo Racing) meant that Auto Club RC2 Valles’ Michael Markussen missed out on a berth in Q2, as did Max Hart, who will start both races from 15th place.

Along with points leader Ley, Santiago Concepción was another high-profile name to drop out of qualifying at the first hurdle. The latter starts 19th for both races, while Ley will have to try and make his way through from the rear of the grid.

With just two laps available in Q2, Halder initially set the fastest time before being usurped by Fernández – who did just one lap – by nearly half a second. Andersson leapt into third ahead of Taylor.

In the end, Fernández’s time was good enough to secure pole as neither Halder nor Taylor could find any improvements with their final efforts.

Andersson also bailed on his last attempt and settled for third.

Behind, Butti set the fourth quickest time ahead of Taylor, while Shepherd was sixth.

Volt was seventh fastest, with Junesung Park the best of the Hyundais in eight.

Nicola Baldan and Covini round out the top 10.

Race one at Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled to take place later today at 17:10 CEST.