WTCR Most: Azcona beats Michelisz to top qualifying for first pole of 2021

The Zengo Motorsport Cupra Leon driver was the second to run in the top-five Q3 shootout and set a time of 1m38.757s. That ended up just 0.091s faster than the effort from Norbert Michelisz, who was the last to go in his BRC Hyundai Elantra.

“With 20kg more weight from the last race, to get pole position I’m really happy,” said Azcona. “It was the perfect lap, I have to say. The car felt really good, even with the extra 20kg, and I felt super-good – even better than at the last race weekend. We’ll see on Sunday but at the moment I feel really good.”

“After going fastest in free practice two we expected to be in the top five,” said former champion Michelisz. “The laps were really good and we found a good balance. I’m happy with P2 – it’s so tight.”

WTCR points leader and reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher was third fastest in his Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in a session that ran late into the afternoon, with the two races taking place on Sunday. “The conditions were difficult with the sun,” said the Frenchman. ”It was a reasonable lap. Now I’ll focus on the races. We have a whole day to prepare.”

Esteban Guerrieri was fourth fastest in his Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R, with Jean-Karl Vernay’s Hyundai fifth.

Yann Ehrlacher, Cyan Racing Lynk & Co Lynk & Co 03 TCR

Photo by: WTCR

Santiago Urrutia, who started the weekend just two points behind his fellow Lynk & Co driver Ehrlacher, endured a difficult qualifying and failed to progress beyond Q1. “I was fast in free practice and I’m usually quick in qualifying,” he said. “It is what it is. I don’t know why, it feels strange.” Urrutia ended up 15th out of the 20 runners.

Local racer Petr Fulin, a wildcard entry for this weekend, will start the partially reversed-grid race one from pole position after setting the 10th fastest time in the Q2 session.

WTCR Most - Qualifying results

Cla	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Mikel Azcona	3	1'38.757
2	Norbert Michelisz	3	1'38.848	0.091
3	Yann Ehrlacher	3	1'38.887	0.130
4	Esteban Guerrieri	3	1'38.890	0.133
5	Jean-Karl Vernay	3	1'39.068	0.311
View full results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Jean-Karl Vernay	Hyundai	5	1'38.851
2	Mikel Azcona	CUPRA	5	1'38.856	0.005
3	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	5	1'38.923	0.072
4	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	5	1'38.965	0.114
5	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	5	1'38.989	0.138
6	Nathanael Berthon	Audi	5	1'39.036	0.185
7	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	5	1'39.071	0.220
8	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	5	1'39.088	0.237
9	Nestor Girolami	Honda	5	1'39.096	0.245
10	Petr Fulfn	CUPRA	4	1'39.407	0.556
11	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	5	1'39.810	0.959
12	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	5	1'40.643	1.792
View full results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	9	1'39.126
2	Mikel Azcona	CUPRA	9	1'39.147	0.021
3	Nathanael Berthon	Audi	10	1'39.189	0.063
4	Nestor Girolami	Honda	10	1'39.199	0.073
5	Jean-Karl Vernay	Hyundai	10	1'39.248	0.122
6	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	10	1'39.270	0.144
7	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	11	1'39.281	0.155
8	Petr Fulfn	CUPRA	9	1'39.298	0.172
9	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	10	1'39.316	0.190
10	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	10	1'39.339	0.213
11	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	10	1'39.467	0.341
12	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	10	1'39.512	0.386
13	Rob Huff	CUPRA	11	1'39.522	0.396
14	Tom Coronel	Audi	10	1'39.543	0.417
15	Santiago Urrutia	Lynk & Co	11	1'39.557	0.431
16	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	9	1'39.587	0.461
17	Attila Tassi	Honda	10	1'39.647	0.521
18	Luca Engstler	Hyundai	11	1'39.831	0.705
19	Bence Boldizs	CUPRA	10	1'40.580	1.454
20	Gilles Magnus	Audi	4
View full results