WTCR Nurburgring: Hyundai's Bjork grabs second pole, Vervisch P2
Reigning World Touring Car champion Thed Bjork stormed to his second pole of the World Touring Car Cup weekend at the Nurburgring Nordschleife with the fastest time in second qualifying
Bjork had been headed by the similar Hyundai i30 N of BRC Racing driver Norbert Michelisz after the second set of runs in the session, but produced a monster final lap - including a fourth sector time that was more than a second faster than anybody else could manage - to seal pole.
His lap of 8m55.085s was 1.040s faster than second place qualifier Frederic Vervisch in his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS, and smashed the pole time Bjork recorded in Thursday's qualifying session by more than three seconds.
Michelisz, who himself had sat a second clear of the chasing pack after his second qualifying run, had to settle for third ahead of Bjork's YMR team-mate, race one winner Yvan Muller. T
he Frenchman qualified one hundredth faster than his nephew Yann Ehrlacher, who will start the weekend's final race on Saturday afternoon from fifth in his Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic.
Ehrlacher will head an all-Honda third row on the grid for that race, after Benjamin Lessennes jumped up to sixth late-on for Boutsen Ginion.
After scoring a podium in Thursday's first race, Rob Huff was again the fastest Volkswagen in Friday's qualifying session as he dragged his Sebastien Loeb Racing Golf GTi to seventh, ahead of the second Munnich Civic of Esteban Guerrieri.
Wildcard entrant Rene Rast was ninth and the leading WRT Audi driver, while Pepe Oriola will start the reversed-grid race from pole after improving to 10th on his final run.
Championship leader Gabriele Tarquini - who retired from the opening race - was briefly 10th after his final flying lap, but was bumped down to 14th by the end of the session.
Gordon Shedden had held 10th and provisional reversed-grid pole for much of the session, but failed to improve on his final run and will instead start both of Saturday's races from 15th in his WRT Audi RS3 LMS.
Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thed Bjork | YMR | Hyundai | 8m55.085s | 3 |
| 2 | Frederic Vervisch | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 1.040s | 3 |
| 3 | Norbert Michelisz | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 1.449s | 3 |
| 4 | Yvan Muller | YMR | Hyundai | 1.654s | 3 |
| 5 | Yann Ehrlacher | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 1.664s | 3 |
| 6 | Benjamin Lessennes | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda | 2.225s | 3 |
| 7 | Rob Huff | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen | 3.561s | 3 |
| 8 | Esteban Guerrieri | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 3.623s | 3 |
| 9 | Rene Rast | WRT | Audi | 4.098s | 3 |
| 10 | Pepe Oriola | Campos Racing | Cupra | 4.545s | 3 |
| 11 | Jean-Karl Vernay | WRT | Audi | 4.867s | 3 |
| 12 | Nathanael Berthon | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 4.867s | 3 |
| 13 | Tom Coronel | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda | 6.076s | 3 |
| 14 | Gabriele Tarquini | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 6.426s | 3 |
| 15 | Gordon Shedden | WRT | Audi | 6.617s | 3 |
| 16 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen | 6.621s | 3 |
| 17 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Cupra | 6.749s | 3 |
| 18 | Aurelien Panis | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 7.139s | 3 |
| 19 | Mat'o Homola | DG Sport Competition | Peugeot | 7.751s | 3 |
| 20 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 7.832s | 3 |
| 21 | Denis Dupont | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 8.275s | 3 |
| 22 | Aurelien Comte | DG Sport Competition | Peugeot | 9.029s | 3 |
| 23 | Gianni Morbidelli | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 9.809s | 3 |
| 24 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 10.013s | 3 |
| 25 | Norbert Nagy | Zengo Motorsport | Cupra | 10.931s | 3 |
| 26 | Zsolt Szabo | Zengo Motorsport | Cupra | 11.031s | 3 |
| 27 | Kris Richard | KCMG | Honda | 12.062s | 3 |
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