Frenchman fastest in Q1 and Q2 to land 10 points and two first-place starts for Comtoyou *Girolami takes reverse-grid Race 2 pole in ALL-INKL.COM Mßnnich Motorsport Honda *Goodyear #FollowTheLeader Ehrlacher misses out for Cyan Racing Lynk & Co *Hyundai-powered Michelisz and Catsburg second and third in Q3 *Team Mulsanne driver Vernay third quickest in Q1
NathanaĂŤl Berthon claimed a pair of DHL Pole Positions at WTCR Race of Slovakia by topping both Q1 and the Q3 shootout in qualifying at the Slovakia Ring.
The Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport driver was fastest in the 20-minute Q1 session to secure the DHL Pole Position for Race 1 and the first points of the weekend. He then also topped the Q3 shootout to claim the DHL Pole Position for Race 3 in his Goodyear-equipped Audi RS 3 LMS.
âI gave it everything,â said Berthon, who also started from the front at WTCR Race of Belgium last month and is eligible for the WTCR Trophy. âI was maybe too conservative in Q2. I knew I had the pace, but I just got into Q3. And then that lap â I donât know! I made a small mistake at the last corner, but Iâm very happy. Now I have two chances from pole position.â
Berthon best in Q1 as top names miss out
Behind Berthon in Q1, the other points scorers were Nicky Catsburg, who banked a brilliant late lap to jump up to second fastest in his Liqui Moly-backed Hyundai, Team Mulsanne’s Jean-Karl Vernay (Alfa Romeo) in third, Gilles Magnus (Audi) in fourth and Gabriele Tarquini in fifth for BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse.
There were some high-profile names who failed to make the top 12 and missed out on progressing to Q2. They included Tiago Monteiro (Honda) in P13, Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing Lynk & Co) in P14 and Goodyear #FollowTheLeader Yann Ehrlacher, who was disappointed to be down in P15.
âWe will start all three races in P15,â he said. âIt is not the best place. We just have to grab some good points. Thatâs how it is and we have to deal with that. We definitely need to find some pace from somewhere.â
Bence Boldizs (ZengĹ Motorsport CUPRA Leon CompeticiĂłn) was P16, one place ahead of team-mate Mikel Azcona, who had topped the first free practice session. Azcona had an off at the Turn 3 hairpin when he out-braked himself. Others to miss out included wildcard entry Petr Fulin (VEXTA DOMY CUPRA) in P18 and Cyan Performance Lynk & Co driver Thed BjĂśrk â currently second in the WTCR points â in P21. WTCR returnee AurĂŠlien Comte reported a suspected engine problem in his VukoviÄ Motorsport Renault MĂŠgane RS TCR in P20.
Trouble for Tassi, cheers for Catsburg in Q2
The 10-minute Q2 session was interrupted by a red-flag stoppage after Attila Tassi crashed his ALL-INKL.DE MĂźnnich Motorsport Honda and bounced into a barrier. His team-mate Monteiro said: âAttilaâs OK, he gave the thumbs up. Heâs just frustrated, of course. We go out on cold tyres and this can happen. The track is colder than in practice and a bit more slippery.â
The session restarted with six minutes left on the TAG Heuer timing screens. Catsburg again found pace when it counted to qualify for the Q3 shootout as fastest, with a time of 2m09.586s. The others to graduate were Magnus, Norbert Michelisz, Berthon and WTCR Trophy points leader Tom Coronel.
Those to miss out included Esteban Guerrieriâs Honda in sixth and Vernayâs Alfa Romeo in seventh. Santiago Urrutia was eighth in his Lynk & Co, Luca Filippiâs Alfa Romeo in ninth and NĂŠstor Girolami in P10 â which means he will start the reverse grid Race 2 from the DHL Pole Position for ALL-INKL.COM MĂźnnich Motorsport.
âI knew Attila was out and Tarquini was slow [with a loose front splitter], so I have to thank the team for this,â said Girolami, who is joint second in the points with BjĂśrk, 31 behind Goodyear #FollowTheLeader Ehrlacher. âThe car feels good and we have to fight. Tomorrow is a really challenging race day and it is a good opportunity with Yann down in P15.â
Magnus goes first in Q3, Berthon goes fastest
In the Q3 shootout, Magnus was the first to run. The Comtoyou Racing Audi set a benchmark of 2m10.274s. Michelisz was up next and despite proving slower in the first sector, made up for it over the rest of his lap to end up 0.481s faster than Magnusâs effort. âThe lap was nice and clean, but not enough risk,â said the WTCR Rookie Driver. âIâm not happy with my lap, to be honest.â
Now Berthon stepped up. Having been fastest in Q1 and in the second free practice session earlier in the day, the Frenchman was fired up to for the DHL Pole Position â and sure enough he found the pace to lap 0.283s faster than Michelisz to jump to the top.
Now only Coronel and Catsburg could knock him from the top spot. Coronel pushed hard, but could only manage the third best time behind Michelisz and ahead of Magnus. But Catsburg had previously pulled big laps out to put himself into contention. Could he do it again? Not this time. The Dutchman went third, behind Michelisz and ahead of Coronel and Magnus.
Race 1 at WTCR Race of Slovakia takes place on Sunday morning at 09h15 local time.
DHL MEDIA ZONE DRIVER QUOTES
Nathanael Berthon
âI gave everything. I was maybe a bit too conservative on the Q2. I didnât want to make a mistake, I knew we had the pace to do something well. I was too conservative definitely and we managed to be in the top five, which to be honest I was scared Iâd be out of. This lap â I donât know. To be honest, like Zolder I just gave it everything. I learned during free practice and just put every together. There was a small mistake at the last corner, but everything was great. Very happy for the team, very happy for myself as well and I think we start two times on pole. I have two chances.â
Nicky Catsburg
âThe last corner wasnât so smooth. I donât think I lost too much time, the lap was pretty clean and pretty close to Norbiâs time and to be honest Iâm very happy with the result we had today in qualifying. I think weâre starting P2 for Race 1 and P3 in Race 3, so to be honest from where we were in Zolder, which was my last race, I think we can be very pleased. I donât think I have much, if any points at all any. But letâs try and change that tomorrow.â
Tom Coronel
âIn the first qualification I overshot myself so I had to do my lap time in my second lap and the tyres are already a lot down. So finally I managed P8. Then in Q2 I as P5, so at least you know you are in the top five. This is always an exciting one. Normally I am quite strong here but I was making too many mistakes. I didnât feel 100 per cent with the car, but still I think we did a good job. Itâs long ago I was in this type of position and now we are back.â
Gilles Magnus
âNice and clean, but not enough risk, not really on the limit. Not really happy with the lap to be honest. So, Iâm sorry for the team because the car is really perfect and the lap should have been better. I was struggling a little bit until Q2. I think there I really found my pace. So yeah, looking forward to the rest of the weekend.â
Norbert Michelisz
âTo be honest, I realised quite soon I donât have the pace of Nicky. He did a fantastic lap in Q2 and my aim in Q3 was to do a lap without any mistakes. OK, I probably could have gone one tenth faster, but you see it would not have made any difference in positions and Iâm quite happy with the performance because we have managed to come step by step today, and Iâm really holding my fingers crossed now for Nicky because more than anyone, he on this circuit can do some magic.â