Bennani storms to TCR Europe pole position at Monza

Mehdi Benanni claimed his maiden pole position in TCR Europe, confirming his and the Audi RS 3 LMS’ potential on the Monza superfast circuit. The Comtoyou Racing driver had already topped the timesheet in yesterday’s wet Practice 1, and then again in Q1. This was the second consecutive pole for the Belgian team after Nicolas Baert’s at Zolder.
Current points leader Daniel Lloyd qualified second ahead of Peugeot fellow colleagues Jimmy Clairet and Julien Briché who will share the second row of the grid for this afternoon’s Race 1. 
In Q1 there was a thrilling fight to make the cut for Q2, with the fastest lap shifting between four different drivers: Bennani, Pepe Oriola, Lloyd and Mat’o Homola. Eventually, Bennani posted the fastest time of 1:57.290, beating Jimmy Clairet’s 1:57.419, Lloyd’s 1:57.562, Homola’s 1:57.733 and Briché’s 1:57.739. The other drivers allowed to Q2 were Teddy Clairet, Oriola, Dániel Nagy, Felice Jelmini, Mike Halder, John Filippi and Baert. Jessica Bäckman and Michelle Halder were the first to stay off, in 13^th and 14^th positions, while amongst those who were eliminated were Andreas Bäckman, who is still struggling with his injured left wrist, and Sami Taoufik whose Audi suffered from a broken driveshaft. Jean-Laurent Navarro did not take part due to an engine issue in his Peugeot.
On his first lap out in Q2, Bennani set a time of 1:57.168 that nobody was able to beat and was worth the pole position. Still on their first attempt, Lloyd qualified second only 35 thousandths behind Bennani, and Jimmy Clairet third. The only driver who was able to improve on his second flying lap was Brichè, from 1:57.595 to 1:57.580, however this did not improve his fourth position.
John Filippi and Mike Halder ranked 10^th and 9^th, and so they will start from the front row of the reversed grid for Sunday’s Race 2.   
Race 1 will start at 17:15, live streaming at www.tcr-series.com.  

Qualifying
1. 1:57.168 – Mehdi Bennani (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)
2. 1:57.203 – Daniel Lloyd (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R)
3. 1:57.515 – Jimmy Clairet (Team Clairet Sport, Peugeot 308)
4. 1:57.580 – Julien Briché (JSB Compétition, Peugeot 308)
5. 1:57.653 – Pepe Oriola (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R)

Championship points
1. Daniel Lloyd 138 pts; 2. Mike Halder 122; 3. Mehdi Bennani 110

Picture: TCR Europe