» WTCR: Local hero Leuchter claims shock pole

Local know-how helped Benjamin Leuchter claim his first pole position for the third and final FIA WTCR race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, with the German driver leading Sébastien Loeb Racing teammate Rob Huff to an all VW Golf front row for the first time this season.

Leuchter impressed on a steadily drying track and timed his final lap to perfection to edge Huff to top spot by 1.4 seconds, while Race 1 pole-winner and current championship leader Esteban Guerrieri backed up his qualifying form by securing third on the grid in his Münnich Motorsport Honda.

“I saw very early that the track was drying up, I informed my team to get the slicks on the side and the team did a fantastic job and at the right moment they gave me the tyres,” said Leuchter. “I just went out and smashed the time. This is for the guys because they’ve worked so hard since Marrakech, we were quite confident at Zandvoort coming to our home race here at the Nürburgring and I really appreciate it to stand on the pole position.”

With the sun finally making an appearance in the late afternoon session, the early pace was set by Cyan Performance’s Yann Ehrlacher in his Lynk & Co before Leuchter moved into provisional pole with a time of 10:18.944, with Huff lapping 1.8 seconds adrift.

Nicky Catsburg moved his BRC Racing Hyundai into third overall with PWR Racing’s Daniel Haglöf’s Cupra TCR slotting into fourth ahead of Catsburg’s teammate Augusto Farfus.

Catsburg’s hopes of improving his lap time on his next run came undone at Döttinger Höhe, when he slid wide just before the long straight and hit the barriers. The impact ripped the left front wheel from the Dutchman’s car and as the track continued to dry he was one of five drivers who failed to make the 105% qualifying cut.

The lap times continued to fall on the following runs, with Leuchter’s second run seeing him remain at the top of the timesheets, although this time he was just 0.083 seconds quicker than Huff.

The duo was then displaced by another SLR Volkswagen, with former rallycross ace Johan Kristoffersson become the first driver in the session to break the 10-minute barrier. The Swede’s time of 9:57.497 was then usurped by wildcard entrant Antti Buri; the Finnish driver dramatically hustling his Audi around the circuit to lap two-tenths quicker.

The drivers’ final runs threatened to be curtailed by a crash for Haglöf at Tiergarten, which triggered a ‘Code 60’ through that section of the lap. Despite everyone having to slow to 60km/h through that section, Leuchter still managed to better his lap time to claim pole position from Huff and Guerrieri.

BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corsa duo Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini claimed fourth and fifth in the final classification, while Mehdi Bennani ensured three SLR Volkswagens qualified in the top-six.

Frédéric Vervisch was another driver who backed up his Race 1 qualifying pace, with the Belgian claiming seventh-fastest in his Comtoyou Team Audi RS3 LMS. KCMG Honda driver Attila Tassi’s celebrations at qualifying a season’s best eighth-fastest were soon dampened amid a 10-place grid penalty for speeding through the ‘Code 60’ zone.

Completing the top ten on the grid were the impressive Buri and the fourth SLR Volkswagen of Kristoffersson, who will start from the reversed-grid pole position for Race 2.

2019 FIA WTCR Race of Germany – Race 2 & 3 Qualifying Results
	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap
1.	Benjamin Leuchter	SLR Volkswagen	9:51.327
2.	Rob Huff	SLR VW Motorsport	9:52.809	+ 1.482
3.	Esteban Guerrieri	Münnich Motorsport	9:53.224	+ 1.897
4.	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	9:55.425	+ 4.098
5.	Gabriele Tarquini	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	9:55.574	+ 4.247
6.	Mehdi Bennani	SLR VW Motorsport	9:57.024	+ 5.697
7.	Frédéric Vervisch	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	9:57.172	+ 5.845
8.	Attila Tassi	KCMG	9:57.232	+ 5.905
9.	Antti Buri (WC)	AS Motorsport	9:57.291	+ 5.964
10.	Johan Kristoffersson	SLR Volkswagen	9:57.497	+ 6.170
11.	Augusto Farfus	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	9:58.444	+ 7.117
12.	Aurélien Panis	Comtoyou Team DHL Cupra Racing	9:59.414	+ 8.087
13.	Tom Coronel	Comtoyou Team DHL Cupra Racing	10:00.776	+ 9.449
14.	Tiago Monteiro	KCMG	10:01.827	+ 10.500
15.	Jean-Karl Vernay	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	10:02.541	+ 11.214
16.	Gordon Shedden	Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	10:02.557	+ 11.230
17.	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	10:04.554	+ 13.227
18.	Andy Priaulx	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	10:04.746	+ 13.419
19.	Thed Björk	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	10:05.515	+ 14.188
20.	Yvan Muller	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	10:07.248	+ 15.921
21.	Kevin Ceccon	Team Mulsanne	10:08.998	+ 17.671
22.	Daniel Haglöf	PWR Racing	10:18.123	+ 26.796
	Outside 105%	Team / Entry	Time	Gap
DNQ.	Nicky Catsburg	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	10:21.225	+ 29.898
DNQ.	Néstor Girolami	Münnich Motorsport	10:25.268	+ 33.941
DNQ.	Mikel Azcona	PWR Racing	10:26.565	+ 35.238
DNQ.	Niels Langeveld	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	10:27.096	+ 35.769
DNQ.	Ma Qing Hua	Team Mulsanne	10:39.128	+ 47.801