Engstler outpaces rivals in wet Qualifying at Sepang

Luca Engstler had no rivals in the Qualifying for TCR Malaysia’s rounds 3 and 4; the young German and his Hyundai i30 N set the fastest lap in Q1 and then outpaced the rest of the field in Q2 on the wet track. His pole position time of 2:35.482 was 3.5 seconds faster than Paul Ip’s 2:38.980 in the KCMG Honda Civic that was worth the second place on the grid for Race 1. Engstler’s teammate Kai Jordan qualified his Volkswagen Golf GTI in third position.
Engstler sat in the pits until halfway through Q1 and then posted the fastest lap of 2:17.243, demoting Jordan to second with the time of 2:17.583. Douglas Khoo ranked third (2:18.448) followed by Martin Ryba (2:19.566), Ip (2:19.577) and Michael Choi (2:19.635).
Kenneth Lau and Michael John Soong completed the top-eight who advanced to Q2, while Team Engstler’s young Malaysian rookies Ahmad Akid Bin Noor Azlee and Brendan Paul Anthony failed to make the cut. The latter didn’t even start following an incident in the second Practice.
The rain began to fall just before the beginning of Q2 and Engstler claimed pole position with a lap of 2:35.482. Ip set the second fastest lap ahead of Jordan and Lau. Ryba and Choi ranked eighth and seventh respectively and so will start from the front row of the reverse grid for Race 2.
The series rounds 3 and 4 will start at 18:15 local time (11:15 CET) and 20:30 local time (13:30 CET) respectively.

TCR Malaysia – Qualifying
1. 2:35.482 – Luca Engstler (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N)
2. 2:38.980 – Paul Ip (KCMG, Honda Civic Type R FK7)
3. 2:39.701 – Kai Jordan (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Volkswagen Golf GTI)
4. 2:40.221 – Kenneth Lau (Prince Racing, Honda Civic Type R FK7)
5. 2:40.449 – Michael John Soong (Liqui Moly Team Engstler, Hyundai i30 N)
6. 2:41.661 – Douglas Khoo (Viper Niza Racing CUPRA)