WTCR Hungaroring: Hyundai's Michelisz sets lap record at home
Hyundai driver Norbert Michelisz claimed a comfortable pole for Saturday's opening World Touring Car Cup race at the Hungaroring, with a new TCR lap record around his home circuit
Practice pacesetter Michelisz carried his form into the first of the weekend's qualifying sessions, which sets the grid for Saturday's first race, recording his TCR pole lap record with his first flying lap.
The BRC Racing driver managed a 1m52.644s in his Hyundai i30 N and, despite abandoning a subsequent lap that had been on par with his first effort, beat nearest challenger Esteban Guerrieri to pole by a quarter of a second.
Michelisz's fastest time maintains Hyundai's perfect record of qualifying pole positions at the start of the new WTCR world cup season.
Guerrieri's effort aboard his Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic prevented a Hyundai 1-2-3 lockout, with his late 1m52.900s lap dropping YMR driver Thed Bjork and Michelisz's BRC team-mate Gabriele Tarquini to third and fourth respectively.
Benjamin Lessennes was an impressive fifth in his Boutsen Ginion Honda, although the 18-year-old is expected to take a five-place grid drop for failing to adhere to full course yellow directives during the 30-minute session.
He beat the similar Munnich Civic of Yann Ehrlacher, while the Hyundais of Yvan Muller and wildcard entrant Daniel Nagy - the Hungarian, racing for Michelisz's M1RA team - were seventh and eighth.
Rob Huff was the lead representative for any of the Volkswagen Audi Group cars in ninth in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI, with fellow Brit James Thompson completing the top 10 in the third Munnich car.
WRT driver Jean-Karl Vernay was 11th in the best of the Audis, but team-mate Gordon Shedden's practice struggles carried over into qualifying. He qualified 25th of the 27 runners, 2.679 seconds off the pace.
Qualifying result
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norbert Michelisz | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 1m52.644s |
| 2 | Esteban Guerrieri | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.256s |
| 3 | Thed Bjork | YMR | Hyundai | 0.419s |
| 4 | Gabriele Tarquini | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 0.444s |
| 5 | Benjamin Lessennes | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda | 0.508s |
| 6 | Yann Ehrlacher | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.569s |
| 7 | Yvan Muller | YMR | Hyundai | 0.671s |
| 8 | Daniel Nagy | M1RA | Hyundai | 0.843s |
| 9 | Rob Huff | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen | 0.957s |
| 10 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 1.092s |
| 11 | Jean-Karl Vernay | WRT | Audi | 1.256s |
| 12 | Tom Coronel | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda | 1.500s |
| 13 | Nathanael Berthon | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 1.530s |
| 14 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen | 1.675s |
| 15 | Mat'o Homola | DG Sport Competition | Peugeot | 1.735s |
| 16 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Cupra | 1.743s |
| 17 | Norbert Nagy | Zengo Motorsport | Cupra | 1.830s |
| 18 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 1.832s |
| 19 | Aurelien Comte | DG Sport Competition | Peugeot | 1.929s |
| 20 | Gianni Morbidelli | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 1.952s |
| 21 | Attila Tassi | KCMG | Honda | 2.105s |
| 22 | Pepe Oriola | Campos Racing | Cupra | 2.256s |
| 23 | Aurelien Panis | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 2.373s |
| 24 | Frederic Vervisch | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 2.457s |
| 25 | Gordon Shedden | WRT | Audi | 2.679s |
| 26 | Denis Dupont | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 2.880s |
| 27 | Zsolt Szabo | Zengo Motorsport | Cupra | 3.059s |
WTCR Hungaroring: Norbert Michelisz sets the pace during practice
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