QUALIFYING REPORT: FIA ETCC Race of Most, rounds 11/12 of 12, 6-8 October 2017

*Hungarian hope on top at Most for Zengő Motorsport
*ETCC’s leading title trio lock out first three places for Race 1 covered by 0.087s
*Five points separate first three

Norbert Nagy will start from pole position for the first encounter at FIA ETCC Race of Most in the Czech Republic tomorrow after sensationally setting the fastest time in the final moments of qualifying this afternoon, as the 2017 FIA European Touring Car Cup heads for its season climax.

With five of the session’s 30 minutes left, Rikli Motorsport’s Christjohannes Schreiber headed series points leader and home hero Petr Fulín by the smallest of margins – just 0.001s separated the title rivals at the top of the times.

But then Hungarian Nagy, who started the session third in the ETCC points, put in a storming lap to set a time of 1m42.232s and snatch top spot by just 0.086s in his Zengő Motorsport SEAT León Cup Racer, his third consecutive ETCC pole of 2017.

That means the ETCC’s top three will start Race 1 on Sunday with Fulín on the second row on 64 points, and poleman Nagy and Honda Civic-driving Swiss Schreiber ahead of him on the front row tied on 59 each to set up a nail-biting two-race title decider.

Plamen Kralev in his Kraf Racing Audi RS3 LMS will join Fulín on the second row. The Bulgarian, who topped Free Practice this morning, should also be a factor for race victory even if he isn’t a title contender, and was just 0.077s slower that the title leader’s Křenek Motorsport SEAT.

Macedonia’s Igor Stefanovski, another contender for the 2017 ETCC crown, will start fifth in his Stefanovski Racing Team SEAT, with Fábio Mota, from Portugal, sixth and title outsider Peter Rikli down in seventh in his Honda Civic.

Seventeen-year-old Czech Václav Nimč, who is giving Volkswagen’s Golf TCR its ETCC debut, was eight quickest followed by Serb Mladen Lalušić. Fulín’s son, 21-year-old Petr Fulín Jr, will start his maiden ETCC race P10 in his Fullin Race Academy SEAT. German Andreas Pfister was P11 followed by Petr Čížek, Hungarian lady racer Anett György and Poland’s Maciej Laszkiewicz.

Sunday’s races, which will decide the winner of the 2017 FIA European Touring Car Cup, take place over 12 laps from 10h50 and 12h30 local time. They will be shown live on Eurosport 1 and streamed as they happen at FIAETCC.com.

POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:
Norbert Nagy (first place): "The secret of this fast lap was that I put new Yokohama tyres only to the front of the car. That resulted in a bit of an oversteer in every corner and that was the fastest way. I realised that only during this session. Tomorrow my plan is just to stay in front."

Christjohannes Schreiber (second place): "My fastest lap wasn't perfect, to be honest. In the end my car was very fast, but it could have been better, so we still have some work to do tonight, but I'm convinced my team will give me a rocket tomorrow."

Petr Fulín (third place): "To be honest I'm not so much happy with third place, I expected better results. It's good for the championship, with 0.087s gap to Norbi and 0.001s gap to Christjohannes. It's impossible to imagine a smaller gap between us. I'm looking forward to both races tomorrow."