Thierry Neuville sets pole position for his maiden race

World Rally Championship star Thierry Neuville managed to top all his competitors in the Qualifying session for his maiden circuit race at the Nürburgring. Coached by WTCR champion Gabriele Tarquini, the Belgian rallyman drove his Hyundai i30 N to set the fastest lap in both Q1 and Q2.
Neuville’s Team Engstler fellow driver Max Hesse qualified in second position and pocketed the five points awarded for the ADAC TCR Germany pole position, because the guest driver status makes the Belgian not eligible to score.
Title contenders Mike Halder and Harald Proczyk posted the third and fifth fastest laps and so scored four and two points, reducing their gaps in the standings from the leader Antti Buri (seventh fastest) to 20 and 10 points respectively.
In Q1 Julien Apothéloz and Théo Coicaud were the first to post provisional fastest laps, but it was Hesse the first to clock a time under the 1:35 mark. The young German set two provisional fastest laps of 1:34.681 and 1:34.294. However, with seven minutes left on the clock, Neuville was timed at 1:33.815. With the Belgian firmly in control, the focus switched to the battle to make the cut for Q2. Kai Jordan (12^th), Apothéloz (10^th) and Buri (3^rd) managed to enter among the top-twelve, while Michelle Halder – the winner of last week’s second race at Zandvoort – was eliminated, as she ranked 13^th, 65 thousandths of a second behind Jordan.   
In Q2, Hesse (1:33.935) and Neuville (1:33.808) were the only drivers to lap in the 1:33 range on their first attempt. The second run resulted in improvements for Halder (1:34.046), Coicaud (1:34.051) and Proczyk (1:34.092) who were placed third, fourth and fifth respectively. Hesse was also able to go faster, but his 1:33.845 was 37 thousandths of a second too slow for stealing the pole from Neuville. Series returnee Pascal Eberle and Mitchell Cheah qualified tenth and ninth, securing the front row spots on the reverse grid for Sunday’s Race 2.
The first race will start this afternoon at 13:15 local time (CET); live streaming will be at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.    

Qualifying
1. 1:33.808 – Thierry Neuville (Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N)
2. 1:33.845 – Max Hesse (Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N)
3. 1:34.046 – Mike Halder (Profi-Car, Honda Civic FK7)
4. 1:34.051 – Théo Coicaud (Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N)
5. 1:34.309 – Harald Proczyk (HP Racing International, Hyundai i30 N)

Championship points
1. Buri 270 pts; 2. Proczyk 260; 3. Halder 250