Mikel Azcona has claimed his third pole position from four events in the 2026 Kumho FIA TCR World Tour, and this enabled him to take over the lead of the championship after an intense qualifying session at Vila Real.
The BRC Hyundai driver managed to outpace Yann Ehrlacher by under a tenth of a second in a final-lap shootout. Ma Qing Hua put his Geely Preface in third, with both Geely drivers bumping down their teammate and early pacesetter Santiago Urrutia to fourth as the chequered flag fell.
In the first part of qualifying, the leading contenders safely progressed through to Q2, but there was a fierce battle among the newcomers to secure the final transfer spots between local hero Manuel Fernandes, his Audi teammate Stian Paulsen, and the Honda of Mikael Karlsson.
Karlsson was holding 12th place and the final cut-off spot for Q2 when he locked up and hit the barriers at Turn 5. The red flag was waved, even though Karlsson was able to return to the pit lane; he lost his best lap for causing the stoppage, meaning he had to repair his car and head back out to try and make it through to the next session.
There was another red flag with under five minutes remaining. Stian Paulsen locked up at the T18 chicane and nudged into the barriers, before being collected by his Vannin Motorsport teammate Fernandes. With both cars requiring recovery, the session eventually resumed with Karlsson and the CUPRA of Enzo Gianfratti fighting hard to eclipse Fernandes and Paulsen who still held the final two spots. Karlsson managed to demote Paulsen but was immediately bumped back down by Gianfratti, with the Brazilian wildcard impressively making it into the second part of qualifying.
Just 11 cars took part in Q2 as Fernandes’ car could not be returned to the pit lane in time. Norbert Michelisz locked up and returned to the pits with a broken driveshaft, but the team was able to repair the car, allowing him to head back out just at the end and set the ninth-fastest time.
Thed Björk strategically sat out the first run and went out with the track to himself, deliberately setting a time which secured him P10, which provisionally secures him the pole for Race 2.
Urrutia’s first flyer went under the qualifying lap record at the circuit, but the final improvements from his teammates Ma and Ehrlacher, alongside the pole-winning lap from Azcona, demoted him to fourth on the grid. This also cost him the lead of the standings, falling three points behind Azcona.
The first race is scheduled for 12:00 local time (13:00 CEST) tomorrow.
Qualifying
1:59.125 – Mikel Azcona (BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse, Hyundai Elantra N EV)
1:59.171 – Yann Ehrlacher (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface)
1:59.344 – Ma Qing Hua (Geely Cyan Racing, Geely Preface)
Championship points
- M. Azcona, 191 pts.; 2. S. Urrutia, 188; 2. N. Michelisz, 150
Picture: WSC/Fastclick-AvensImages
