Driving a TCN2-specification SEAT León, Schreiber moved ahead of Fulín at the top of the times with around 12 minutes of the half-hour qualifying session remaining. The Swiss driver’s lap of 2m12.771s was good enough to hold on to pole until the end, finishing up 0.109s clear of fellow Křenek Motorsport SEAT driver Fulín. The Czech started the season with a double victory at Paul Ricard two weeks ago but suggested the 43 kilograms of success ballast he’s carrying under championship rules affected his outright pace over the 5.922-kilometre lap.

“I just tried to go as fast as possible and I really tried to just enjoy this opportunity I have here with Krenek Motorsport, and it seemed to work,” said Schreiber, who has put his Slovakian speed down to experience gained on two prior visits to the circuit. “It helped me definitely a lot, I’m 100 per cent sure. Every time I’m here I enjoy the track a lot. In my opinion it’s a very demanding track but I really like it.”

Schreiber wasn’t the only ETCC newcomer showing rapid speed in Slovakia. Portugal’s Fábio Mota carried over promising form from Free Practice into qualifying to claim third in his Lema Racing SEAT ahead of fellow rookie Kris Richard, who had earlier set the practice pace in his Rikli Motorsport Honda Civic. Afterwards an emotional Mota paid tribute to his grandmother, who passed away at 05h00 today, and his grandfather, who died a year ago tomorrow.

Norbert Nagy was fifth for Zengő Motorsport, just edging out double FIA European Hill Climb champion Igor Stefanovski, who was slowed by a gear-change issue, while Richard’s team-mate Peter Rikli beat Mladen Lalušić to seventh. ETCC debutant Wolfgang Kriegl was ninth for Andreas Pfister’s team.

In P10 overall, German lady racer Ulrike Krafft was the class of the Super 1600 field in her Ford Fiesta, half a second clear of Ukraine’s Andrii Yevtushenko. Krafft thanked her new arkonic racing team, and is another enjoying the Slovakian circuit. “It’s only my second race with my new team arkonic racing and I have to say they really prepared a very good car,” said Krafft. “The atmosphere in the team is very nice and the suspension was perfect for this track. And I do love this track; it’s very technical and you have to find a very good racing line.”

S1600 champion and double Paul Ricard class winner Niklas Mackschin had to make do with third place, losing out to Yevtushenko by just 0.042s. In what is a 10-strong S1600 field this weekend, Tomáš Korený, who will be 16 years, six months and four days on race day and is the youngest driver on ETCC duty, was fourth ahead of the two German Peugeot 207 drivers Kevin Hilgenhövel, also 16, and Andreas Rinke.

The two nine-lap races are scheduled for 10h00 and 11h05 on Sunday, with the first from a rolling start and the second to begin with a standing start when the top eight finishers from Race 1 will start in reverse order.