Muller and Ehrlacher lock a Lynk&Co front row for Race 3
Yvan Muller claimed his second pole position of the weekend at Ningbo, as he headed his nephew Yann Ehrlacher to lock the front row of the Race 3 grid for Lynk&Co. However, the whole Qualifying was somehow spoiled by the incident in Q2 that eliminated Ma Qing Hua who had been the fastest of the pack and was the favourite for setting the pole position.
In the latest minutes of Q1, Ma posted a 1:49.980 that was the fastest lap of the weekend. He beat Norbert Michelisz’s 1:50.200 that had been the best time for most of the 20-minute segment. The others who advanced to Q2 were Aurélien Panis, Thed Björk, Muller, Nicky Catsburg, Ehrlacher, Néstor Girolami, Andy Priaulx, Augusto Farfus, Esteban Guerrieri and Gabriele Tarquini. The latter had been 13th fastest, but as Frédéric Vervish had his best time disallowed for a track limit infringement, the Italian recovered the 12th position. Among those who didn’t make the cut was Mikel Azcona, 16th.
Ma’s teammate Kevin Ceccon stopped on the track on his first lap out due to a technical issue, causing a few minutes of full course yellow.
In Q2, Panis posted a fastest lap of 1:50.072, but Ma was set to improve it after clocking a much faster first sector, however as he descended upon Girolami who was in his launching lap, he was blocked by Argentine and they made contact. Ma spun off and the red flag was waved with 30 seconds to go, spoiling some other driver’s last attempt. Panis, Catsburg, Girolami, Muller and Ehrlacher qualified for Q3.
Panis was the first one out and was clocked at 1:50.536, Catsburg didn’t go faster, but Girolami did with a lap of 1:50.497. However, Muller was the fastest of them all and won pole position ahead of Ehrlacher.
The results remain provisional pending an investigation on the incident between Ma and Girolami.
Race 2 will start at 14:30 local time (08:30 CET), followed by Race 3 at 15:50 (09:50 CET).
Qualifying 2
1. 1:50.135 – Yvan Muller (Cyan Racing, Lykn&Co 03)
2. 1:50.417 – Yann Ehrlacher (Cyan Racing, Lykn&Co 03)
3. 1:50.497 – Néstor Girolami (Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic FK7)
4. 1:50.536 – Aurélien Panis (Comtoyou Racing, CUPRA)
5. 1:50.735 – Nicky Catsburg (BRC Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N)
Championship points
1. Guerrieri 231 pts; 2. Michelisz 222; 3. Muller 189
