Rob Huff claims pole position for Zengő Motorsport in Hungary
Rob Huff has taken pole position for the Hungarian round of the WTCR, setting a new lap record in Q2 and then going on to top the Q3 shootout, setting the first pole for the CUPRA Leon Competición in the championship.
The first segment of qualifying was led by Huff’s teammate Mikel Azcona, who deposed the Lynk & Co of Santiago Urrutia at the end of the session, with Gilles Magnus also showing strong pace in the Comtoyou Racing Audi, going second fastest.
The session was disrupted by a yellow flag, and later a full course caution, both for Target Competition’s Andreas Bäckman, who first spun at Turn 2, before clipping the tyre stack at Turn 12.
Several championship contenders didn’t make it out of Q1, including points leader Jean-Karl Vernay, who qualified down in 16th in his Engstler Motorsport Hyundai, and the two Münnich Motorsport Honda cars of Tiago Monteiro and Attila Tassi, which both missed the top 12 cut-off in 13th and 14th.
In Q2, Urrutia set the first target of 1:52.381, but was quickly pipped by Néstor Girolami’s Honda with a time of 1:52.198. On the second run, Thed Björk leaped up to the top, before Huff took over with a time of 1:51.598, new Hungaroring lap record for TCR cars, securing his spot in Q3 along with Björk, Urrutia, Girolami, and home hero Norbert Michelisz. Magnus had lost his first lap time due to track limits but was able to go tenth on his second run, which secured the Audi driver pole for Race 1.
In Q3, Michelisz went out first and set a time of 1:52.342, which was quickly beaten by Huff with a time of 1:51.993. Björk, Urrutia and Girolami followed, with Urrutia splitting Huff and Michelisz, three-tenths from Huff’s time, while Girolami finished fourth ahead of Björk by just four-thousandths of a second.
The first race, with Magnus on pole, is scheduled for 12:15 tomorrow, with Race 2 at 15:15 CEST.
Hungaroring – Qualifying
1:51.993 Rob Huff (Zengő Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición)
1:52.290 Santiago Urrutia (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03)
1:52.342 Norbert Michelisz (BRC Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N)
1:52.534 Néstor Girolami (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R)
1:52.538 Thed Björk (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03)
Championship points
1. JK. Vernay 82 pts; 2. Y. Ehrlacher 74; 3. Y. Muller 67
Picture: WTCR/DPPI
