» WTCR: Björk recovers to win Sunday pole

Thed Björk and Norbert Michelisz have secured a remarkable all-Hyundai front row for this weekend’s final FIA World Touring Car Cup race at Vila Real, less than 24 hours after both drivers’ cars appeared to have been written off in the opening lap smash in Saturday’s race.

The duo became the first drivers to lap the daunting 4.6-kilometre street circuit under the two-minute barrier to-date this weekend, and with Michelisz’s teammate Gabriele Tarquini claiming third-fastest it was a Hyundai 1-2-3 result.

All but three of the 27-car field was able to participate in this morning’s qualifying session. Not surprisingly, the two Sébastien Loeb Racing entries of Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani who triggered yesterday’s carnage were ruled out, along with the third Münnich Motorsport Honda of James Thompson.

Björk set the early pace in Q1, which was twice red-flagged when Frédéric Vervisch’s Comtoyou Racing Audi lost a driveshaft and Tom Coronel’s Boutsen Ginion Honda crashed out. The Swede was overhauled after the second red flag thanks to a late effort was Tarquini that helped the Italian move into the second qualifying stage.

Björk and Tarquini posted identical lap times on their first Q2 runs, while new championship leader Yvan Muller and his chief title rival Yann Ehrlacher both suffered punctures. Both would recover, although only Ehrlacher was able to make it through to the final one-lap shootout for pole position reserved for the fastest five drivers.

Muller finished the session ninth-fastest, giving himself a front-row start behind Gordon Shedden for Sunday’s reversed-grid race and a shot at claiming back-to-back race wins after his lucky victory on Saturday.

Björk ultimately was fastest in Q2 to give himself the final run in Q3, and he bettered the effort with the fastest lap of the weekend to claim pole position. Michelisz finished second-fastest ahead of Tarquini, with Pepe Oriola a fine fourth in his Campos Racing Cupra and Ehrlacher fifth after a mistake on his hot lap.

The second race of the weekend follows at 15:45 local time (GMT +1), with the final race taking place at 17:10.

2018 FIA World Touring Car Cup Race of Portugal – Races 2 & 3 Final Qualifying Results
	Q3 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Gap
1.	Thed Björk	MRacing – YMR	1:59.824
2.	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Racing Team	2:00.164	+ 0.340
3.	Gabriele Tarquini	BRC Racing Team	2:00.319	+ 0.495
4.	Pepe Oriola	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	2:00.426	+ 0.602
5.	Yann Ehrlacher	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	2:01.266	+ 1.442
	Q2 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Gap*
6.	Aurélien Panis	Comtoyou Racing	2:00.627	+ 0.681
7.	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	2:00.636	+ 0.690
8.	Mat’o Homola	DG Sport Compétition	2:00.637	+ 0.691
9.	Yvan Muller	MRacing – YMR	2:01.011	+ 1.065
10.	Gordon Shedden	Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	2:01.114	+ 1.168
11.	John Filippi	Team OSCARO by Campos Racing	2:01.131	+ 1.185
12.	Benjamin Lessennes	Boutsen Ginion Racing	2:01.135	+ 1.189
	Q1 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Gap**
13.	Nathanaël Berthon	Comtoyou Racing	2:01.626	+ 1.062
14.	Aurélien Comte	DG Sport Compétition	2:01.654	+ 1.090
15.	Fabrizio Giovanardi	Mulsanne SRL	2:01.721	+ 1.157
16.	Norbert Nagy	Zengõ Motorsport	2:01.750	+ 1.186
17.	Edgar Florindo	Rui Edgar Macedo Florindo	2:01.809	+ 1.245
18.	Denis Dupont	Comtoyou Racing	2:01.983	+ 1.419
19.	Esteban Guerrieri	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	2:02.345	+ 1.781
20.	Gianni Morbidelli	Mulsanne SRL	2:02.421	+ 1.857
21.	Frédéric Vervisch	Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	2:02.726	+ 2.162
22.	Zsolt Dávid Szabó	Zengõ Motorsport	2:03.115	+ 2.551
23.	José Rodrigues	Target Competition	2:03.593	+ 3.029
24.	Tom Coronel	Boutsen Ginion Racing	2:06.503	+ 5.939
	Outside 107%	Team
WD.	Rob Huff	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Withdrew
WD.	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing	Withdrew
WD.	James Thompson	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Withdrew

* Denotes gap to fastest Q2 qualifying time of 1:59.946 posted by Thed Björk
** Denotes gap to fastest Q1 qualifying time of 2:00.564 posted by Gabriele Tarquini

Post-Qualifying Penalties: