Muller beats Michelisz to the pole for Macau Race 1
Yvan Muller claimed a last gasp pole position for WTCR Race 1 in Macau, beating Norbert Michelisz by 68 thousandths of a second. The Hungarian’s second position meant that he closed the gap in the standings from the leader Esteban Guerrieri to two points only. The latter kept on struggling with the pace of the Honda cars and qualified a disappointing 13th; however he will start Race 1 from the back of the grid because the team decided to change the engine.
Nicky Catsburg was the first one to complete a lap in less than 2:30 and set a provisional fastest lap of 2:29.770 that was successively improved by Yann Ehrlacher’s 2:29.253, Thed Björk’s 2:29.060, and Muller’s 2:29.013.
Then, in the dying moments, Michelisz jumped on top with a lap of 2:28.729, but Muller demoted him to second as he clocked a 2:28.661 under the chequered flag.
The Lynk&Co cars proved extremely competitive on the Guia circuit; Andy Priaulx, Ehrlacher and Björk qualified third, fifth and sixth respectively. Only Michelisz and Kevin Ceccon, fourth fastest in his Alfa Romeo, managed to infiltrate the quartet of the Chinese cars.
Rob Huff, Gabriele Tarquini, Benjamin Leuchter and Mikel Azcona rounded off the top ten, while the Audi and Honda cars struggled with the pace. Frédéric Vervisch placed the best Audi car in 11th position, one second off the pole position time, with Guerrieri 13th one further tenth adrift.
There were a few minor incidents during the session – Jean-Karl Vernay and Ehrlacher brushed the walls and pitted for repairs, while Terence Tse spun off at the Melco hairpin – but only one red flag after Mehdi Bennani crashed at the Police bend with twelve minutes left on the clock.
WTCR action will continue today with the Qualifying session for Races 2 and 3 at 13:35 local time (06:35 CET).
Qualifying 1
1. 2:28.661 – Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing, Lynk&Co 03)
2. 2:28.729 – Norbert Michelisz (BRC Squadra Corse, Hyundai i30 N)
3. 2:28.806 – Andy Priaulx (Cyan Racing, Lynk&Co 03)
4. 2:28.846 – Kevin Ceccon (Team Mulsanne, Alfa Romeo Giulietta)
5. 2:28.942 – Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing, Lynk&Co 03)
Championship points
1. Guerrieri 288 pts; 2. Michelisz 286 pts; 3. Björk 248
