Yann Ehrlacher claims his first pole in two years at Adria

Yann Ehrlacher has claimed his first WTCR pole position since Zandvoort in 2019 at the Adria Raceway. With Ehrlacher setting the fastest time in Q1 as well, and with his closest title rival Jean-Karl Vernay not making it into Q2, Ehrlacher has extended his lead by ten points ahead of tomorrow’s two races.
The Cyan Racing Lynk & Co driver had topped the first qualifying session just ahead of his teammate Santiago Urrutia, while the Comtoyou Racing Audi cars showed they were likely to be the closest threat to Cyan Racing this weekend, with Gilles Magnus third quickest in the first session.
The first session ended with a yellow flag deployed in sector one, when Gabriele Tarquini locked his brakes and went into the gravel trap in his BRC Hyundai Elantra. 
Just missing out on Q2 was Jean-Karl Vernay, who qualified in 13th place. The Engstler Motorsport driver voiced his disappointment, after he had been stopped at the weighbridge near the end of the session and was unable to get out for a final run on new tyres.
In Q2, everyone’s first run effectively set the final order, with Frédéric Vervisch quickest in his Audi ahead of points leader Ehrlacher. Tarquini was unable to take part, while Münnich Motorsport’s Attila Tassi was ordered to stop his run, so he wouldn’t risk depriving teammate Esteban Guerrieri of a front row start for the reversed grid Race 1, and so there were no improvements late in the session.
In the final shootout, Vervisch went out first and his time of 1:49.510 was a solid target, but he was beaten by nearly two-tenths of a second by Ehrlacher, while mistakes by Thed Björk, Gilles Magnus, and Yvan Muller on their runs meant they qualified behind the pair in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
With ten points from qualifying, Ehrlacher’s lead over Vernay has been extended to 26 points, while Guerrieri remains third, now 32 points back.
The first race takes place at 10:15 CET tomorrow, with Race 2 at 12:15.

Adria – Qualifying
1:49.347 Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03)
1:49.510 Frédéric Vervisch (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:49.515 Thed Björk (Cyan Performance, Lynk & Co 03)
1:50.028 Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS)
1:50.656 Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03)

Championship points
1. Y. Ehrlacher 170; 2. JK. Vernay 144; 3. E. Guerrieri 138 

Picture: WTCR/DPPI