Dušan Borković claims pole position at Le Castellet

Dušan Borković is the first pole sitter in the 2018 TCR Europe Series, having clocked the fastest lap in Qualifying at Le Castellet’s Circuit Paul Ricard.
The Serbian completed a lap in 2:13.781 at the wheel of his Target Competition Hyundai i30 N, which was half-a-second faster than Mikel Azcona’s 2:14.225. The young Spaniard confirmed himself as one of the fastest in his PCR Sport Cupra and prevented Dániel Nagy of M1RA from making an-all Hyundai front row on the grid for Race 1. Stian Paulsen qualified his Cupra in fourth position, relegating Josh Files’ Honda Civic and Reece Barr’s Hyundai to the third row, while Jean-Karl Vernay placed his Audi in seventh.
Jens Reno Møller (Honda) and Francisco Mora (Hyundai) will fill the front row on the top-ten reverse grid for tomorrow’s Race 2.
After setting the fastest lap in Q1, Igor Stefanovski (Hyundai) was not able to repeat his performance in Q2 and qualified 11^th after his fastest lap was disallowed. The most disappointed drivers were Attila Tassi – who failed to advance to Q2 as he also had his fastest lap disallowed – and Stefano Comini who is struggling with his Subaru’s technical issues.
The first race will start at 14:40 (live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv). 

Q1 – Stefanovski fastest by 19 thousandths
In a very lively first part of Qualifying, five different drivers took turns on top of the time sheet. Eventually Igor Stefanovski set the fastest time of 2:14.034 with only two minutes left on the clock, beating Jean-Karl Vernay’s provisional best lap of 2:14.589. Afterwards, Mikel Azcona (2:14.053) and Dániel Nagy (2:14.123) moved up to second and third respectively, demoting Vernay to fourth.
Josh Files seemed able to improve his 2:14.619 but aborted the last lap, knowing that he was safe in fifth place. Reigning TCR Italy champion Nicola Baldan secured the last spot for Q2, beating Loris Cencetti by 0.166 seconds.
Attila Tassi did not make the cut, as his fastest lap of 1:14.568 that would have placed him fourth was disallowed for a track limit infringement and the young Hungarian dropped to 17^th.
The following drivers went through to Q2: Stefanovski, Azcona, Nagy, Vernay, Files, Borković, Mora, Barr, Paulsen, Richard, Møller and Baldan.

Q2 – Borković inflicts half-a-second to the rest of the field
Dušan Borković was the first and only driver to break the 2:14. Wall, setting a fastest lap of 2:13.781 that gave him the pole position with nearly half-a-second faster than the rest of the field.
On his last lap Azcona claimed the second spot on the grid (2:14.225), demoting Nagy (2:14.264) by 39 thousandths. Paulsen (2:14.378) secured fourth position ahead of Files (2:14.392) and Barr (2:14.437).
Stefanovski had his fastest lap disallowed for a track limit infringement and dropped to 11^th, while Møller qualified 10^th and won pole position for Race 2.