Björk takes pole and leads a Hyundai’s 1-2-3
Thed Björk made a statement in today’s Qualifying 1 at the Nordschleife. At the wheel of his M Racing YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR, he took pole in his first attempt and improved his time in the following lap. The Swede could not hide his satisfaction: “I am really happy of being here and of my performance. It was tough, as the track is very slippery, and it was a very closely-fought session.” It was, indeed, as Björk’s teammate, Yvan Muller, remained only 79 thousandths behind, with Norbert Michelisz (BRC Racing Team) completing the Hyundai 1-2-3. On a track he adores, Rob Huff (SLR Volkswagen Golf) was the first of the non-Hyundai cars.
Qualifying 1 started on an almost dry track, after two free practice sessions on a wet or very humid tarmac according to the sections, which saw Nordschleife specialist guest star René Rast posting the best time in the WRT Audi RS3 LMS. The first lap saw Muller fastest in the first two sectors, and Michelisz in the others, but it was Björk who posted the provisional best time (9:02.904), only 42 thousandths ahead of Michelisz. Huff, Muller and Frédéric Vervisch followed with Rast only 15th after rubbing the Armco barrier.
In the second lap, Björk improved further down, the first TCR driver to break the nine-minute barrier (8:58.700), with Muller second (8:58.779) ahead of Rast, Huff, Gordon Shedden, Tom Coronel and Yann Ehrlacher who all improved their times. The last attempt saw no changes for the best two positions, while Michelisz took third (8:59.066), Esteban Guerrieri fourth (8:59.664) and Huff fifth (8:59.664), these being the only drivers under the 9-minute mark. Rast, Tarquini, Shedden, Coronel and Lessennes completed the top ten on the grid for Race 1 that will start at 19:45 on the distance of three laps.
It was a bad day for the Zengő Motorsport cars, as Zsolt Dávid Szabó has been sidelined following a crash in the first practice and Norbert Nagy going off track towards the end of the Qualifying.
