Rodolfo Ávila leads MG 1-2 in TCR China qualifying at Tianma

Rodolfa Ávila claimed the first pole position for MG XPOWER in TCR competition at Round 3 of the TCR China championship at the Tianma circuit near Shanghai, leading his team-mate Zhang Zhen Dong by two-tenths of a second, with points leader Ma Qing Hua’s Teamwork Motorsport Lynk & Co in third.
The MG cars were quick from the start of the 30-minute session, with Macanese driver Ávila rocketing to the top of the time sheets ahead of Zhang and Rainey He, holding onto a potential top three lockout throughout most of the session.
The Teamwork Motorsport Lynk & Co cars left it until after ten minutes had elapsed to take to the track, with Ma only able to get as high as fifth on his first run, while new teammate Yang Xi was fighting to make the top ten.
The MG cars all came out for another run, all improving their times, but staying in the same order, with Ávila’s pole position lap time ending up being 1:05.546.
With under five minutes left, Ma was able to make a late improvement to go third fastest, breaking up the MG top three, with MG’s new driver, Sun Chao, qualifying down in eighth.
The next best behind the MGs and Ma’s Lynk & Co was Filipe de Souza’s TA Motorsport Audi, with the Macau driver making his first appearance of the season this weekend.
The grid for Race 1 is therefore set, with Race 2’s grid to be established after a reversed grid draw, which will take place later today.
The first race is scheduled to take place at 9:33 local time (03:33 CEST) on Saturday, with Race 2 at 9:38 (02:33 CET) on Sunday, both will be streamed live at www.tcr-series.com. 

Qualifying
1:05.456 Rodolfo Ávila (MG XPower, MG 6)
1:05.699 Zhang Zhendong (MG XPower, MG 6)
1:05.801 Ma Qing Hua (Shell Teamwork, Lynk & Co 03)
1:05.935 Rainey He (MG XPower, MG 6)
1:06.257 Filipe de Souza (T.A. Motorsport, Audi RS 3 LMS)

Picture: TCR China