Jean-Karl Vernay confirmed his form as the fastest TCR driver on Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit. After posting the best lap time in yesterday’s Practice, the Frenchman and his Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golf Gti car topped today’s Qualifying session with an impressive lap of 2:24.511 that improved last year’s pole position time by nearly two seconds.
This was Vernay’s first pole position in the series, while Gianni Morbidelli’s Honda Civic (2:25.016) and Mat’o Homola’s SEAT León (2:25.019) qualified in second and third, split by only three thousandths of a second.
The three title contenders, Stefano Comini (2:25.115), Pepe Oriola (2:25.436) and James Nash (2:25.899) ranked fourth, fifth and seventh respectively, with Dušan Borković (2:25.629) in sixth position.
On his comeback to the championship, Kevin Gleason qualified in tenth and won pole position on the reverse grid for tomorrow’s Race 2; Sergey Afanasyev will complete the front row.
Petr Fulín’s set the 12^th fastest lap in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta, just ahead of Jordi Oriola’s Opel Astra, while the brand new Ford Focus of Martin Cao was classified 17^th.
Loris Hezemans could not clock any valid time as his SEAT stopped on the first lap out of the pits due to a broken driveshaft.
Race 1 will start this evening at 19:20 local time (13:20 CET) over a distance of 10 laps or 30 minutes; live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.