TCR: Salzburgring Qualifying
10 June 2017
Rounds 9 & 10 – Salzburgring – 10 / 11 June 2017
QUALIFYING REPORT
Mat’o Homola sets pole in eventful Qualifying session
Opel and Alfa provide unprecedented front row for Race 1
For the second time this season, Mat’o Homola and his DG Sport Compétition Opel Astra emerged as the fastest combination in the Qualifying session. However, unlike in Bahrain where he was demoted by a grid penalty, the young Slovak will start from pole position for tomorrow’s Race 1.
Qualifying confirmed that the gaps in lap times at the Salzburgring are the smallest and positions were disputed by thousandths of a second. Homola’s fastest lap in Q2 of 1:25.481 beat Dušan Borković’s 1:25.552 by 71 thousandths, while Pepe Oriola qualified in third, a further six thousandths adrift.
Attila Tassi ranked fourth, a result that couldn’t even have been hoped for 24 hours earlier, after his massive shunt in testing. Local driver and TCR newcomer Thomas Jäger claimed a brilliant fifth position in the Kissling Motorsport Opel Astra, beating International Touring Car top guns such as James Nash, Rob Huff, Stefano Comini, Gianni Morbidelli and Roberto Colciago.
The latter will start Race 2 from pole position on the top-ten reverse grid.
The most disappointed driver today was Davit Kajaia, who set the fastest lap in Q1, but had it disallowed by the Stewards for improving under yellow flags.
The first race will start tomorrow at 13:00 local time (live streaming at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv).
Q1: Kajaia’s fastest lap disallowed
There was a lot of position-swapping during the first twenty minutes of Qualifying, with no fewer than seven drivers taking turns to top the time sheet.
Homola set the first significant laps of 1:26.737 and 1:26.204, but then the leadership moved to Comini (1:26.0369) and then to Jäger (1:26.011), Daniel Lloyd (1:25.984) and Colciago (1:25.913).
With only 30 seconds left on the clock, Kajaia posted an impressive 1:25.864 that he achieved by improving his sector 2 time while that was under yellow flag due to Stian Paulsen’s car stranded in the gravel trap at Turn 5. This meant that the Stewards disallowed Kajaia’s time, which dropped him to 14th and out of Q2.
The battle then raged for the other positions, with Rob Huff, Frédéric Vervisch and Gianni Morbidelli who were all able to make the cut at the last gasp and kick out the championship leader Jean-Karl Vernay, who dropped to 13th.
The following drivers went through to Q2: Colciago, Lloyd, Tassi, Jäger, Comini, Borković, Huff, Homola, Oriola, Vervisch, Nash, and Morbidelli.
Q2: Homola steals pole from Borković
Borković began at a stunning pace, posting a provisional fastest time of 1:25.689 and nearly matching it on the following lap (1:25.698).
Tassi (1:25.636) and then Homola (1:25.629) dropped the Serbian to third, but Borković jumped on top again with a lap of 1:25.558.
However, Homola had the last word and settled the matter with the pole position time of 1:25.481.
When the chequered flag was waved, Oriola was clocked at 1:25.558 that gave him the third place, dropping Tassi to fourth.
What the fastest drivers said after Qualifying
Mat’o Homola (1st): “I have always had good results here in Salzburgring, so I know this track suits me and I like the fast corners. From the beginning, we had some minor problems in every session but we changed some things for Qualifying and the car behaved really well. We were guessing at some of the set-up things, but you can see that they worked. It’s one thing to win Qualifying, but you get more points in the races so that’s what I have to concentrate on. I don’t know how to measure the risks I took, but I know I wasn’t 100% in Turn 9. One mistake can ruin your whole weekend and I know I need the points.”
Dušan Borković (2nd): “Yesterday, we were trying to change some things on the car to improve the corner speed because we knew we were struggling. In Q1 I had some traffic and I made a few mistakes but I was pushing. We are still struggling a little bit in the second sector because of the bad aero but we will see tomorrow what will happen with all of us. In Q2, I knew the tyres were fresher in the first few laps but I made some stupid mistakes. By the third lap the tyres were gone. I really like the Salzburgring – I crashed last year when I was P2, so hopefully this year I will finish both races, but you can be sure I will push.”
Pepe Oriola (3rd): “Everybody always wants to get a tow here in Salzburgring and we had a really good strategy within the team which worked in Free Practice and Q1. I was swapping positions with James (Nash) and Daniel (Lloyd) and the others were trying to get a tow from us. At one time, Rob (Huff) was in the middle with us and then Colciago too so I was really lucky to get the time on the last lap, but I know I could have been even faster. The Alfa cars are really strong in the first part of the straight, but as Dušan said, we know they have aero problems. We are back on the pace – it’s been a long time since I did a Qualifying press conference, so it’s good to be back!”
Attila Tassi got a brand new car
Miracles sometimes happen! Thanks to some behind-the-scenes logistics overnight, Attila Tassi will be able to take part in the TCR International Series event at the Salzburgring after escaping unscathed from a major shunt yesterday.
The young Hungarian driver was discharged from the medical centre after a thorough check and declared able to race, if only he had a car…
His Honda Civic had suffered extensive damage in the high-speed impact against the Armco barrier at Turn 9. It was impossible to fix the car at the track, so the Civic was stripped and its shell will be sent to JAS for a possible repair.
While the M1RA mechanics were working on the wreck, phone calls were exchanged between the team and JAS, and soon a new car was loaded onto a flat-bed truck that left Milan on an overnight journey to Austria.
The truck arrived at the circuit at 4:00am this morning, the team crew leapt into action to apply the livery and the car finally passed scrutineering.
Tassi will be dropped to the back of the grid for Race 1 because of the engine change.
Team principal Norbert Michelisz said: “It has been a fantastic effort from everybody at JAS and in the team. We all wanted to do our best and give Attila the possibility to race, because our aim is to win the championship.”
Ferenz Ficza crashed during Practice 1
Another Hungarian driver, another big shunt.
After Attila Tassi’s crash at Turn 9 in yesterday’s test session, Ferenc Fizca hit the barrier hard a few metres further down the track during this morning Free Practice 1.
Ficza was quickly out of the car; he walked away, shocked but apparently unhurt. He was first transported to the circuit’s medical centre for precautionary checks and then sent to the local hospital for X-Rays as he was complaining of pain in his ribs.
He was eventually discharged and declared fit to race next week at the Hungaroring.
2017 TCR International Series – calendar
2 April – Rustavi International Motorpark, Georgia
16 April – Bahrain International Circuit (F1 event)
6 May – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (WEC event)
14 May – Autodromo di Monza, Italy (ELMS event)
11 June – Salzburgring, Austria
18 June – Hungaroring, Hungary (DTM Event)
9 July – Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Germany (with ADAC TCR Germany)
3 September – Chang International Circuit, Buriram (with TCR Thailand)
8 October – Zhejiang International Circuit, China (with TCR Asia & TCR China)
26 November – Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi (F1 event)
Sources: TCR International Series PR