Lynk & Co has made good on its ‘threat’ and after dominating free practice, the Asian firm achieved pole position at Pau-Arnos, the sixth scoring round of the WTCR. With a performance typical of a ‘kid’, Yvan Muller took pole position after setting a lap of 1: 18.973 in the decisive Q3. The Frenchman has surpassed his compatriot Jean-Karl Vernay by 233 thousandths. In terms of the championship, Yann Ehrlacher has been fifth and Esteban Guerrieri has finished sixth. As it was seen in free practice, the performance of the CUPRA León Competición with the applied weights has been far from its rivals and Mikel Azcona will start penultimate in both races.
Yann Ehrlacher started qualifying on the right foot of the WTCR in Pau, since the current champion and leader of the event had the best time. The Frenchman surpassed Norbert Michelisz by 69 thousandths. Behind both stood Jean-Karl Vernay and Gabriele Tarquini, proving that Hyundai was going to be the great alternative to Lynk & Co. Despite having a more discreet level, Esteban Guerrieri ensured his passage to Q2, like Néstor Girolami. Mikel Azcona could not avoid the inevitable and the Spanish will start 19th, only ahead of a Gilles Magnus who caused the only red flag of the session after finishing against the barriers.
Jean-Karl Vernay and Norbert Michelisz confirmed the good performance of the Hyundai N Elantra TCR, as the local hero and the winner of the second round of the WTCR in Most closed Q2 at the top of the timesheets. Behind, three Lynk & Co 03 TCR, limiting the presence in Q3 to both brands. Yann Ehrlacher, Yvan Muller and Santiago Urrutia got the last three tickets for the final session, a performance that served to indirectly point to Thed Björk and leaving Esteban Guerrieri and Néstor Girolami, sixth and seventh, in a difficult situation. With his tenth place, Frédéric Vervisch will start first in the inverted grid race.