The Uruguayan was the penultimate driver to run in the Q3 shootout, hitting the top with a time of 1m59.626s. Reigning double champion Ehrlacher ran last and was fastest of all in the first sector, only to drop time in the final two to miss out to his team-mate and title rival.
“I’m super-happy, it’s always good to be on pole position,” said Urrutia. “Thank you to Cyan Performance, they gave me a really good car. It was a tough day learning the track, but the guys delivered the best for me.
“The last time I was on pole was a long time ago in Aragon, so I’m happy. Now we need to look to the strategy for tomorrow.”
Ehrlacher was disappointed to miss out on pole, especially by such a small margin: “It’s good for the team. We’ve got 10 points today [for setting the fastest time overall in qualifying], so it’s quite a good achievement. It’s the way it is. My performance was really good.”
Munnich Motorsport’s Nestor Girolami, in a Honda still carrying the maximum success ballast of 40kg, pulled out two big laps to progress beyond Q1 and make it into Q3, then banked third on the grid for race one.
Girolami also addressed concerns over sandbagging from rival teams in qualifying, in order to maintain a competitive Balance of Performance for future rounds. Although BRC Squadra Corse’s Norbert Michelisz made it into Q3 and qualified fifth, team-mate Mikel Azcona – who holds a 34-point lead at the top of the WTCR standings – was only eighth fastest. The pair also chose to qualify tactically in the previous round last weekend at Aragon.
“What we see from the others they are, let’s say, playing more with the rules we have this year,” said Girolami. “We are just pushing the limit, as motorsport should be. In qualifying they go three, four or five tenths slower, which is something they need to look at for the future. But anyway, I’m super-happy for the team, myself and what we achieved today.”
Ma Qing Hua was fourth fastest ahead of Michelisz, while Comtoyou Audi’s Mehdi Bennani and Zengo’s Rob Huff just missed out on making the cut for Q3 by going sixth and seventh in Q2.
Cyan Racing’s Yvan Muller was 10th fastest to ensure a Lynk & Co will also start the partially reversed-grid race two from pole position, for what will be the 100th WTCR race held since the series was created in 2018.
Ex-Formula 1 driver Tiago Monteiro was hoping to shine at his home race, but failed to progress beyond Q1. He will line up 13th for the two races in his Team Engstler Honda.
WTCR Vila Real - Qualifying Results
Q3
| Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Santiago Urrutia | Lynk & Co | 3 | 1'59.626 | |||
| 2 |  Yann Ehrlacher | Lynk & Co | 2 | 1'59.675 | 0.049 | 0.049 | |
| 3 |  Nestor Girolami | Honda | 3 | 1'59.879 | 0.253 | 0.204 | |
| 4 |  Ma Qing Hua | Lynk & Co | 3 | 1'59.880 | 0.254 | 0.001 | |
| 5 |  Norbert Michelisz | Hyundai | 3 | 2'00.101 | 0.475 | 0.221 | |
| View full results | |||||||
Q2
| Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yann Ehrlacher | Lynk & Co | 5 | 1'59.543 | |||
| 2 | Santiago Urrutia | Lynk & Co | 5 | 1'59.555 | 0.012 | 0.012 | |
| 3 | Ma Qing Hua | Lynk & Co | 5 | 1'59.799 | 0.256 | 0.244 | |
| 4 | Nestor Girolami | Honda | 5 | 1'59.846 | 0.303 | 0.047 | |
| 5 | Norbert Michelisz | Hyundai | 5 | 1'59.995 | 0.452 | 0.149 | |
| 6 |  Mehdi Bennani | Audi | 3 | 2'00.017 | 0.474 | 0.022 | |
| 7 |  Rob Huff | CUPRA | 6 | 2'00.048 | 0.505 | 0.031 | |
| 8 |  Mikel Azcona | Hyundai | 5 | 2'00.129 | 0.586 | 0.081 | |
| 9 | Attila Tassi | Honda | 5 | 2'00.225 | 0.682 | 0.096 | |
| 10 | Yvan Muller | Lynk & Co | 5 | 2'00.234 | 0.691 | 0.009 | |
| 11 |  Gilles Magnus | Audi | 5 | 2'00.333 | 0.790 | 0.099 | |
| 12 |  Thed Björk | Lynk & Co | 4 | 2'00.368 | 0.825 | 0.035 | |
| View full results | |||||||
Q1
| Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mikel Azcona | Hyundai | 8 | 2'00.063 | |||
| 2 | Yvan Muller | Lynk & Co | 8 | 2'00.108 | 0.045 | 0.045 | |
| 3 | Attila Tassi | Honda | 11 | 2'00.146 | 0.083 | 0.038 | |
| 4 | Yann Ehrlacher | Lynk & Co | 6 | 2'00.155 | 0.092 | 0.009 | |
| 5 | Norbert Michelisz | Hyundai | 8 | 2'00.158 | 0.095 | 0.003 | |
| 6 | Rob Huff | CUPRA | 8 | 2'00.165 | 0.102 | 0.007 | |
| 7 | Mehdi Bennani | Audi | 12 | 2'00.222 | 0.159 | 0.057 | |
| 8 | Santiago Urrutia | Lynk & Co | 7 | 2'00.321 | 0.258 | 0.099 | |
| 9 | Gilles Magnus | Audi | 10 | 2'00.323 | 0.260 | 0.002 | |
| 10 | Nestor Girolami | Honda | 10 | 2'00.398 | 0.335 | 0.075 | |
| 11 | Ma Qing Hua | Lynk & Co | 9 | 2'00.492 | 0.429 | 0.094 | |
| 12 | Thed Björk | Lynk & Co | 10 | 2'00.784 | 0.721 | 0.292 | |
| 13 |  Tiago Monteiro | Honda | 12 | 2'00.826 | 0.763 | 0.042 | |
| 14 | Esteban Guerrieri | Honda | 9 | 2'00.879 | 0.816 | 0.053 | |
| 15 | Nathanael Berthon | Audi | 10 | 2'01.235 | 1.172 | 0.356 | |
| 16 |  Tom Coronel | Audi | 11 | 2'01.336 | 1.273 | 0.101 | |
| 17 | Daniel Nagy | CUPRA | 11 | 2'02.398 | 2.335 | 1.062 | |
| View full results | |||||||
