Filippi beats Bennani to the TCR Europe pole for Race 1

John Filippi took his maiden pole position in TCR Europe, beating Mehdi Bennani at the end of a thrilling qualifying session at Le Castellet. On his first appearance at the wheel of the Hyundai run by Target Competition, the Corsican driver topped the timesheet in Q2 with a lap of 2:11.709 that was only 34 thousandths faster than Bennani’s 2:11.743 in the Comtoyou Racing Audi.
Daniel Lloyd and Néstor Girolami will fill the second row of the grid for Race 1 with their Honda Civic cars, while Peugeot brothers Jimmy and Teddy Clairet qualified fifth and sixth, but Jimmy will be dropped three positions on the grid for Race 1 because of a penalty from yesterday’s second Practice, when he set his fastest lap under yellow flags.
Mike Halder and Sami Taoufik qualified tenth and ninth, and so they will share the front row of the reversed grid for Sunday’s Race 2.
There was a breath-taking fight for the top-twelve positions in Q1, in which Jessica and Andreas Bäckman set the two fastest laps of 2:11.958 and 2:12.112. 
Lloyd was the first driver to break the 2:13 wall with a provisional fastest lap of 2:12.696, but his time was improved by Jimmy Clairet (2:12.646) and Girolami (2:12.229), until Jessica Bäckman became the only one to complete a lap in less than 2:12. Her brother Andreas and Lloyd improved to be placed second and third. 
The most thrilling fight involved the drivers who were trying to avoid being excluded from Q2. Eventually Mat’o Homola, Sami Taoufik and Mike Halder made the cut in 10^th, 11^th and 12^th, while Dániel Nagy, Pepe Oriola and Tom Coronel remained off as they ranked 13^th, 14^th and 15^th. 
In Q2, all the fastest laps were set at the end of the first run, with Girolami provisionally on top (2:12.114) and immediately demoted to fourth by Bennani, Filippi and Lloyd. The Bäckmans were not able to repeat their Q1 performance and settled in seventh (Jessica) and eighth (Andreas).  
Homola too was given a grid penalty – of five positions – for track limit infringements and so he will be dropped from 12^th to 17^th in the grid for Race 1.
Race 1 will start at 12:50, live streaming at www.tcr-series.com.  

Qualifying
1. 2:11.709 – John Filippi (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N)
2. 2:11.743 – Mehdi Bennani (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)
3. 2:11.840 – Daniel Lloyd (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R)
4. 2:12.114 – Néstor Girolami (PSS Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R)
5. 2:12.165 – Jimmy Clairet (Team Clairet Sport, Peugeot 308)

Championship points
1. John Filippi 10 pts.; 2. Mehdi Bennani 9: 3. Daniel Lloyd 8

Picture: TCR Europe