Mikel Azcona is delighted as he secured a record number of pole positions in a season, with three events still to go after South Korea, as he cruised to his fourth pole position of 2026.
Following on from poles at Misano, Paul Ricard, and Vila Real, the BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse driver has also added Inje Speedium to his list of poles, and is delighted to have led a Hyundai 1-2 at the manufacturer’s home event.
“That was what we really wanted at our home race weekend, a P1 and P2 for the team,” said Azcona. “It wasn’t easy as the Geelys are very strong, so we had to fine tune the car perfectly and make no mistakes, and we managed it. Now for the race, we have to finish like this. I’d love to win a race here in Korea, and also having Norbi behind is a better than having a rival. Scoring another 15 points is also really good for the championship, but we’re still taking it race-by-race.
“Four poles in five weekends is insane, it’s all about working well with the team, and my experience, and getting very used to the team. Thanks to my team, with my mechanics and engineer, we nailed the setup perfectly which gives me the extra confidence in qualifying.”
Thed Björk was the fastest of the Geely Cyan Racing team, setting a last-minute flyer to jump ahead of teammate Santiago Urrutia on the time sheets to go third fastest, and says the main focus will be the race, with the Inje Speedium circuit ripe for overtaking.
“I really like this track,” said Björk. “It’s super-challenging and not as grippy as some other tracks so you need a different style of driving which suits me really well, and my objective is to get a good balance of car and to challenge them, as it’s a long race.”
“There was a lot of overtaking last year, because the track opens and there’s not just one line, and if you make a small mistake, if you’re behind you can take advantage of it, so this is probably one of the best race tracks we have for this."
The fastest of the CUPRA contingent was Aurélien Comte, who set the TCR World Tour lap record in Q1 with a time of 1:40.101, but couldn’t find the same pace in Q2 and had to settle for the sixth fastest time, and will start fifth on the grid following Urrutia’s grid penalty.
“It was not too bad, but I’m sort of unhappy as I couldn’t find the same pace I had in Q1 in Q2, but the car is fast, which is a positive.
“It was a very fast lap for me in Q1, and in Q2 my lap wasn’t too bad either so I don’t know why there was such a big difference so we need to work and find out why that was.”
Picture:WSC/Paddocker
