Thed Björk smashes the 2-minute wall at Vila Real
Thed Björk and his M Racing YMR Hyundai i30 N set pole position for today’s Race 3 and set a new lap record for TCR cars on the Vila Real road course. The Swede was the only driver capable to complete a lap in less than two minutes as he clocked the fastest lap of the day – 1:59.773 – in Q2 and then claimed pole position in Q3 with 1:59.824. BRC Racing’s Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini completed a Hyundai 1-2-3 on top of the time sheet.
Much credit for Björk’s effort goes to his team’s crew that rebuilt his car overnight after the massive pile up in yesterday’s Race 1 that scrapped the Volkswagen cars of Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani and James Thompson’s Honda.
Tarquini topped the Q1, setting the fastest lap of 2:00.564 in the dying seconds, after two red flags. The first suspension was caused by Frédéric Vervisch who broke the oil sump, the second by Tom Coronel’s crash.
Tarquini’s last gasp effort beat Björk’s 2:00.841 and Muller’s 2:00.866, making a 1-2-3 for Hyundai; Aurélien Panis was the best of the rest in fourth (2:00.876) ahead the remaining Hyundai of Michelisz (2:00.996).
The main victim of Q1 was Esteban Guerrieri who failed to make the cut and ranked 19th.
Björk demolished the 2-minute wall in Q2, clocking an impressive 1:59.773, demoting Yann Ehrlacher (2:00.365) and Tarquini (2:00.424) to second and third. Pepe Oriola ranked fourth ahead of Michelisz. Jean-Karl Vernay and Muller failed to advance to Q3, but the latter will start from the front row of the top-ten reverse grid for Race 2, alongside Gordon Shedden who will be on pole.
Björk lapped under two minutes once again in Q3 and his 1:59.824 relegated Michelisz (2:00.164) and Tarquini (2:00.319) to second and third. Oriola qualified in an impressive fourth position with a lap of 2:00.426, while Ehrlacher settled in fifth (2:01.266) after jumping too much on the kerbs.
Race will start at 15:45 local time (16:45 CET).
