WTCR Race of Hungary qualifying - Azcona fastest to claim pole position for Race 1 11.06.2022: WTCR Race of Hungary Hungaroring Saturday, June 11th 2022 Mikel Azcona set the pace in qualifying at WTCR Race of Hungary to clinch pole position for Race 1 at the Hungaroring.

WTCR Race of Hungary
Hungaroring
Saturday, June 11th 2022





Mikel Azcona set the pace in qualifying at WTCR Race of Hungary to clinch pole position for Race 1 at the Hungaroring.



Azcona, driving BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse’s Hyundai Elantra N TCR, emerged on top from a dramatic Q3 shootout to beat Nathanaël Berthon in his Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport RS3 LMS and King of WTCR Yann Ehrlacher.



“That was very tough, I have to say,” said Azcona after securing his first pole position since WTCR Race of Czech Republic at Most last year. “Everything is very close and we are all together, but I’m very happy with this first pole position of the year.



Very happy for the team because we are working so hard every single day. The car was working amazingly and we need to use this opportunity tomorrow to take the victory. I know it is not going to be easy, but we will use this opportunity and look for the championship as well which is so long.”



Goodyear #Followtheleader Néstor Girolami set the pace with a strong time of 1m51.86s in the 20-minute Q1 session from local hero Nobert Michelisz, Berthon and Santiago Urrutia. Those who just made the cut to progress to Q2 included another local Dániel Nagy, who was just on the bubble in P12. Gilles Magnus made it through in P10 despite losing laps for track limits violations, with Yvan Muller in P11.



Thed Björk, who was fastest in the first free practice session, missed out in P13. The others to find themselves out of luck were home hero Attila Tassi (Honda), Mehdi Bennani (Audi), Tom Coronel – who pulled off a brilliant save when his Audi started to spin because of damage to his left-rear tyre – and Tiago Monteiro (Honda).



The 10-minute Q2 session was interrupted by a red flag after just three minutes when Nagy’s Zengő Motorsport Cupra Leon Competición went straight on at Turn 1 and hit the barriers. The Hungarian was unhurt in the impact.



Once the session restarted, Magnus stormed to a time of 1m51.684s to progress to Q3. He was joined by Erhlacher, Berthon, Azcona and Esteban Guerrieri’s Honda in that order.



Ma Quing Hua left it late to record a time and jumped straight up to sixth. He missed out on the Q3 shootout and also handed fellow Lynk & Co driver Urrutia the partially reverse-grid pole position for Race 2, the Uruguayan qualifying in P10. Ma’s effort knocked Muller down to P11.



Rob Huff will join Urrutia on the front row for Race, having qualified ninth. Local hero Michelisz was seventh fastest, but will take a six-place grid drop for Race 1 following his accident with Tassi in Pau. Girolami was disappointed to qualify eighth, but will at least start from the second row in Race 2.



Guerrieri was the first to run in the Q3 shootout. The ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport driver was a little ragged on his lap, setting a time of 1m52.086s. But the time was disallowed for a track limits violation at Turn 11. Azcona was next, the Spaniard working hard to set a benchmark of 1m52.020s.



Berthon was the third to run. The Frenchman was faster than Azcona in the first two sectors, but lost a chunk of time in the final part of the lap and ended up 0.128s slower. “I just lost the front – argh!” he said.



Now Ehrlacher took his turn. But the Lynk & Co was off the pace of both Azcona and Berthon, only managing a time 0.324s off the pacesetting Hyundai. Ehrlacher reported excessive understeer in his Lynk & Co. “It was tough,” he said. “Q3 always is and it’s really hot here and we’ve been in the car for a while. It’s not too bad. We’ve had some difficulties since the beginning of the season, so we are ready to do a good weekend.”



That left Magnus, fastest in Q2, to run last. But the Belgian blew his chance by running wide at Turn 11, to leave Azcona on pole position for Race 1. The final order in the shootout was Azcona, Berthon, Ehrlacher, Guerrieri and Magnus.



Magnus was frustrated by his mistake. “The car was really on the edge to be quick,” he said, “so it was not easy to drive. But I’m really disappointed. I should have finished the lap on a slow pace, which I tried to do to be honest. I didn’t want to take any risks, but the rear stepped out. This would have been a nice pole because starting on pole is important here. I’m disappointed in myself, sorry to the team, but that’s how it is. The pace is better than expected because this is not our track, and I’m happy to be in the top 10 because after Q1 I was not sure I was going to be there.”




Race 1 for WTCR Race of Hungary takes place on Sunday morning at 11h20 local time, wit Race 2 following at 16h45.






Richard Rodgers, photo WTCR