Gabriele Covini grabs TCR Europe race one pole at Monza

BRC Racing Team’s Gabriele Covini claimed pole position for the first TCR Europe Series race of the weekend at Monza.

The Italian, at the wheel of his Hyundai Elantra N TCR EV set a best time of 1m53.613, to end up just over a tenth of a second quicker than Hyundai stablemate Junui Park (Solite Indigo Racing).

Points leader Nicolas Taylor will line up third on the grid in his PMA Motorsport Audi RS 3 LM3 TCR.

Taylor’s title rival Viktor Andersson, meanwhile, will have to fight through the field in the opening encounter, having ended qualifying in 12th position.

There was drama already before the qualifying session began, with the news that ALM Motorsport’s Max Hart has been ruled out of the rest of the weekend, following an accident during practice on Friday.

The Irishman’s Honda Civic Type-R was too heavily damaged after the incident at Biassono, for his team to complete the necessary repairs in time.

“Unfortunately, I had a heavy crash yesterday which has led to some unforeseen problems,” said Hart.  “It’s obviously not the way we wanted the weekend to go.”

Covini topped a competitive opening segment of qualifying in his BRC Racing Team Hyundai Elantra with his time of 1:53.580 just six-hundredths of a second faster than FP2 pacesetter Baldan.

A tenth of a second adrift of his BRC team-mate was Alex Ley in third place, with Ruben Volt improving late in the session to secure his place in Q2 with the fourth-fastest time in his Honda Civic Type-R.

Hyundai proved rapid in the first session, with four Elantra N TCR EVs in the top seven positions. Junesung Park was fifth quickest, while Junui Park was seventh.

The Korean drivers were sandwiched by championship leader Nicolas Taylor, who set the early pace in his PMA Motorsport Audi.

Safe for Baldan’s late improvement, the top 12 making it into Q2 remained largely unchanged, with Mike Halder, Mikhail Simonov, Marco Butti, Viktor Andersson and Adam Shepherd making the cut.

Series returnee Teddy Clairet was a notable absentee from Q2; the Vannin Motorsport Audi RS 3 LM3 TCR driver only managing the 18th quickest time, one place ahead of Tiago Pernía (Squadra Martino Honda Civic Type-R).

In Q2, Covini and Halder traded fastest times early in the session, before Junui Park jumped to second quickest, a tenth and a half off the pace.

In the end, Covini’s time was unbeaten, with Park heading Taylor, Halder and Baldan to complete the top five on the grid.

Behind, Volt will start sixth on the grid, ahead of Mikhail Simonov (SP Compétition Cupra León VZ TCR) and Junesung Park.

Ley and Marco Butti rounded out the top 10.

Race 1 at Monza is scheduled to take place later on today at 16:55 CEST.