» WTCR: Berthon bags comeback pole

Nathanaël Berthon snatched his first pole position in his comeback to the FIA World Touring Car Cup with a fabulous lap in the top-five shoot out, as just 0.041 seconds separated the top three in qualifying at WTCR Race of Belgium.

The Frenchman was the last to run in his Goodyear-equipped Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport Audi RS 3 LMS and put in a lap of 1m35.486s to knock Cyan Racing Lynk & Co’s Yann Ehrlacher from the top. Behind Ehrlacher, FIA Rookie Award contender Gilles Magnus impressed as he has all weekend at his home circuit of Zolder to end up third for the RACB National Team.

“We had a very good pre-season and the guys did a really good job on the Audi,” said a delighted Berthon. “This lap was pretty quick, especially the last sector. I knew I had to give it everything.”

Ehrlacher, while disappointed to miss out on the DHL pole, was satisfied with his effort. “After this long time with no racing I’m quite happy to be on the front row and score some qualifying points. I did a lap on the edge, there was nothing left. It would have been difficult to find more and we will fight again tomorrow.”

In the 20-minute Q1 session, Thed Björk and Magnus both had spells at the head of the times, but Ehrlacher’s late effort pushed him back to the top with a lap of 1m35.827s. The top 12 progressed to Q2 and experienced WTCR aces Jean-Karl Vernay, King of WTCR Norbert Michelisz (BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse) and Néstor Girolami only just made the cut in P10, P11 and P12 respectively. Those who missed out included Australian newcomer Dylan O’Keefe, just outside the bubble in P13 in his Vuković Motorsport Renault Mégane, Nicky Catsburg (Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing. Team), 2018 title winner Gabriele Tarquini, FIA Rookie Award contender Jack Young and Honda-powered Tiago Monteiro.

Catsburg said he was not surprised to miss out, with Michelisz the only Hyundai to progress to Q2. “We weren’t expecting to get through and from testing we knew it would be a tough weekend. It just means we need to work a bit harder.”

A flurry of last-lap improvements shook up the order in the 10-minute Q2 session. As he had in the second free practice session, Magnus used his Zolder knowledge to lead the way, an impressive lap of 1m35.480s knocking Santiago Urrutia from the top. The other three to progress to the one-at-a-time Q3 shoot-out were Ehrlacher, Yvan Muller and Berthon as the fifth fastest qualifier, with Tom Coronel just missing out in sixth.

The others to drop out at this stage were Attila Tassi, Björk, Vernay and Argentine ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Honda team-mates Girolami and Guerrieri. Michelisz propped up the times in P12. Geurrieri said: “It’s not the best start to the weekend, but still we are going to fight.”

As the fastest qualifier, Magnus had the pick of the running order in Q3 – and chose to go first. The 21-year-old, buoyed by confidence, set an impressive benchmark time of 1m35.527s.

Uruguayan Urrutia, making his WTCR debut, was next up in his Lynk & Co and put in a spectacular effort, only to lose out in the final sector to end up 0.353s slower than Magnus. Then Ehrlacher was the third to run in his Lynk & Co. What could the Frenchman do? To the delight of his Cyan Racing team, his time put him on top by just 0.010s.

“Sector 2 and sector 3 were close to perfect,” said Magnus, shaking his head, “so to see Ehrlacher go fastest by such a margin is a little frustrating. But as it’s my first super pole session, I’m happy.”

Muller was next and could only end up 0.552s down on his nephew who sat on the provisional DHL pole. But Berthon was the last to run – and had a special lap up his sleeve. The Frenchman managed a 1m35.486s to top the list by just 0.031s.

Race 1 at WTCR Race of Belgium takes place on Sunday morning at 10:30 local time.

2020 FIA WTCR Race of Belgium – Qualifying Results
	Q3 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time
1.	Nathanaël Berthon	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	1:35.486
2.	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	1:35.517
3.	Gilles Magnus	Comtoyou Racing	1:35.527
4.	Santiago Urrutia	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	1:35.880
5.	Yvan Muller	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	1:36.069
	Q2 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time
6.	Tom Coronel	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	1:35.907
7.	Attila Tassi	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	1:35.941
8.	Thed Björk	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	1:35.993
9.	Jean-Karl Vernay	Team Mulsanne	1:36.065
10.	Néstor Girolami	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	1:36.119
11.	Esteban Guerrieri	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	1:36.301
12.	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	1:36.606
	Q1 Qualifiers	Team / Entry	Time
13.	Dylan O’Keeffe	Vuković Motorsport	1:36.877
14.	Luca Engstler	Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	1:37.020
15.	Nicky Catsburg	Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	1:37.025
16.	Gabriele Tarquini	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	1:37.054
17.	Jack Young	Vuković Motorsport	1:37.062
18.	Tiago Monteiro	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	1:37.192
19.	Bence Boldizs	Zengő Motorsport Services KFT	1:37.353
20.	Mikel Azcona	Zengő Motorsport Services KFT	1:37.410
	Did Not Qualify	Team / Entry	Time
EX.	Luca Filippi	Team Mulsanne	no time
EX.	Gábor Kismarty-Lechner	Zengő Motorsport Services KFT	no time

Championship Points:

The fastest five qualifiers and their respective teams are awarded championship points on a 5-4-3-2-1 sliding scale.

Post-Qualifying Penalties:

Luca Filippi and Gábor Kismarty-Lechner’s respective qualifying times were cancelled for failing to stop at the weighbridge as instructed during Qualifying 1.
Nicky Catsburg was issued a five-place grid penalty for Race 1 for failing to slow sufficiently whilst yellow flags were deployed during Free Practice 2.
Luca Filippi was issued a five-place grid penalty for Race 1 for failing to slow sufficiently whilst yellow flags were deployed during Free Practice 2.

Images and text via FIA WTCR Media