• Wolf-Power Racing lines up alongside TCE title rival BBR. • Strong return for Hankook 12H SPA winner Holmgaard Motorsport. • 2019 TCE champion Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport on TC pole. QUALIFYING RESULTS HERE Wolf-Power Racing has secured its first TCE pole position of the season at the 2022 Hankook 24H BARCELONA, and will line-up alongside standings leader BBR for this weekend’s European championship season finale. The Wolf-Power Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR (#116, Jasmin Preisig / Ivars Vallers / Marlon Menden / Rob Huff) started qualifying strongly as Marlon Menden posted the fastest time in Q1, a full 1.044s quicker than Dechathorn Phuakkarawut managed in the BBR CUPRA TCR (#158, Dechathorn Phuakkarawut / Kantadhee Kusiri / Kantasak Kusiri / Grant Supaphongs / Nattanid Leewattanavalagul). Rob Huff thereafter put provisional pole position out of reach with a 1m 57.935s in the final session, the 2012 World Touring Car Champion becoming the only TCE driver to dip below the 1m 58s mark during qualifying. Wolf-Power Racing thus secures TCE pole with an average time of 1m 58.167s around the 4.675km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. “Absolutely brilliant, and a testament to the team,” Rob Huff explained to radiolemans.com’s Diana Binks. “The lap Marlon did in the first session was brilliant, and Jasmin [Preisig] and the team did an amazing job. We’ve been here for three days now and we made a hell of a car for qualifying. Now we’ve just got to make a hell of race car, which I’m confident we can do as well!” Standings leader BBR was able to withstand a storming run from the returning Holmgaard Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición TCR (#102, Magnus Holmgaard / Jonas Holmgaard / Roy Edland / Martin Vedel Mortensen / Andie Stokoe) to seal a front row start. The Thai team’s sister CUPRA Leon Competición TCR meanwhile (#159, Chariya Nuya / Sandy Stuvik / Munkong Sathienthirakul / Tanart Sathienthirakul / Pasarit Promsombat) was the fourth fastest car in TCE qualifying, but will slip back on the grid after serving a five- place grid penalty, handed down at July’s Hankook 24H PORTIMAO for a data- logger discrepancy. The CUPRA TCR of Spain’s RAIL EQUIP BY TOTCAR SPORT (#123, Jorge Belloc Diaz / Jorge Belloc Ruiz / Álvaro Rodríguez Sastre / Alba Cano Ramirez) lines up ahead of AC Motorsport’s Audi RS 3 LMS (#188, Stéphane Perrin / Mathieu Detry / Vincent Radermecker / Charles Dawson) and the Simpson Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS (#138, James Kaye / Matt Neal / Henry Neal / Will Neal / Ricky Coomber). The latter marks the first time the three-time British Touring Car Champion will compete in the same car as sons Will and Henry. Malaysia’s Viper Niza Racing (#165, Douglas Khoo / Dominic Ang / Melvin Moh / Gilbert Ang) rounds out the TCR runners with its second consecutive start with the CUPRA TCR. Further back, 2019 Overall TCE Teams’ champion Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport (#332, Michael Mayer / Martin Kroll / Michael Bonk / Max Partl) makes its return to the 24H SERIES this weekend at Barcelona, and secured TC class pole position with its BMW M2 CS Racing. Following this evening’s official Night Practice, the green flag will fly for the 2022 Hankook 24H BARCELONA at 13.00 hrs local time on Saturday 10 September. The event will run uninterrupted throughout the night until the chequered flag flies at 13.00 hrs local time on Sunday 11 September. The action will be live with commentary from radiolemans.com on the official 24H SERIES YouTubechannel. Regular updates will also be published on Twitter (@24HSeries), Facebook (24H Series) and Instagram (24H Series). Further information can be found at www.24hseries.com. Creventic BV also photo
2001-2022 automobilsport.com full copyright