Mike Halder claims final TCR Europe pole position of 2026
Mike Halder claimed pole position for the TCR Europe season finale at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain ahead of Gabriele Covini and Victor Chan.
The ALM Motorsport driver lapped the Spanish circuit in 1:48.703 to beat BRC Racing Team driver Covini by 0.147 seconds and gain vital championship points.
Victor Chan made it two Hondas in the top three, 0.220 seconds from pole for RC2 Team.
Mikhail Simonov was fastest of the Cupra drivers in fourth place, just 44 thousands of a second slower than Chan, with Monlau Motorsport’s Adam Shepherd making it two Cupras in the top five.
Junesung Park claimed sixth on the grid, three tenths from pole, ahead of Ruben Volt and points leader Marco Butti who will start down in eighth place for the first race.
Junui Park claimed ninth ahead of former points leader Nicolas Taylor who was over a second from pole in tenth place, thus securing the Race 2 reversed grid pole.
Hyundai driver Alex Ley, who is placed second overall, could only manage eleventh ahead of Viktor Andersson.
The Swede, who is placed fourth in the standings, had a dreadful Q2 session down in 12th place after a fuel pump issue.
Halder’s pole hands the German ten points which elevates him from fifth to third, trailing points leader Butti by 14 points.
Title contenders Tiago Pernia and Nicola Baldan missed the Q2 session, qualifying in 13th and 16th place respectively.
The first race of the weekend starts at 17:30 CEST today.
