WTCR Aragon: Vervisch grabs Audi's first pole of 2021 from Bjork

Audi put its disastrous start to the WTCR season behind thanks to a change to the balance of performance and a lack of compensation weight, which boosted the performance of the marque's all-new RS 3 LMS, which struggled for competitiveness in the opening two rounds at the Nurburgring and Estoril.

Vervisch was the last of the top five to run and although he was not fastest overall in the first three sectors, a burst of speed in the final part of the lap proved enough to knock Bjork from the top – by just 0.021s.

“For me it was a really good lap,” said the Comtoyou Audi driver. “We put it together in the right moment. It’s been a difficult start to the season, but now we are back in the game.

"The Comtoyou guys have been non-stop. For the race it will be difficult but we have the pace for pole so we have the speed to win. We have the pace to score many points.”

Countryman and team-mate Gilles Magnus made it an Audi 1-3, with 2019 champion Norbert Michelisz fourth in his Hyundai Elantra N TCR. WTCR points leader Jean-Karl Vernay was fifth in his Engstler Hyundai.

“It was a good session because today has been pretty tough for me,” said the Frenchman who is doubling up this weekend racing in the Pure ETCR that shares the bill in Aragon. “But in the end I did a good qualifying to be in the top five and score some more points.”

Nathanaël Berthon, who had been fastest in the second free practice session, just missed the cut during Q2 to qualifying for the shootout. He was sixth fastest in the session ahead of another Audi, that of Tom Coronel.

Gilles Magnus, Comtoyou

Photo by: WTCR

Reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher was eighth fastest ahead of home hero Mikel Azcona in his Zengo Motorsport Cupra.

Magnus left it right to the end to set a lap in Q2 and qualify for the shootout, and his effort dropped veteran Gabriele Tarquini in 10th, which means the Italian will start the reversed-grid race one from pole position for the second consecutive WTCR weekend.

The late change in order bumped Lynk & Co’s Yvan Muller from 10th and off the pole, down to 11th.

Honda, which had dominated the previous round at Estoril on pace, suffered a disastrous day in Spain. All four of the Munnich Motorsport Civic Type Rs failed to graduate beyond Q1.

Attila Tassi, winner of race two at Estoril and second in the points coming into the weekend, stopped out on the circuit and caused a red flag interruption.

“We didn’t expect much from this weekend with the extra 70kg [of compensation weight],” said the Hungarian. “Suddenly my car just switched off. I tried to restart it, but even the guys don’t know yet what the problem was.”

Team-mates Esteban Guerrieri, Nestor Girolami and Tiago Monteiro were only 16th, 20th and 21st respectively, on a weekend that looks certain to shake up the points table.

WTCR Aragon Q3 shootout results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	2'06.169
2	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	2'06.190	0.021
3	Gilles Magnus	Audi	2'06.354	0.185
4	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	2'06.380	0.211
5	Jean-Karl Vernay	Hyundai	2'06.719	0.550
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WTCR Aragon Q2 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	2'06.044
2	Gilles Magnus	Audi	2'06.154	0.110
3	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	2'06.327	0.283
4	Jean-Karl Vernay	Hyundai	2'06.350	0.306
5	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	2'06.374	0.330
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WTCR Aragon Q1 results

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	2'06.441
2	Tom Coronel	Audi	2'06.469	0.028
3	Nathanael Berthon	Audi	2'06.572	0.131
4	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	2'06.650	0.209
5	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	2'06.652	0.211
View full results