WTCR Zandvoort: Bjork on pole as Cyan takes 1-2-3, Muller second

Bjork had hinted at the pace of the Lynk & Co by heading a one-two in Friday's second practice session, but Cyan waited for qualifying to unleash the car's full potential - with more than half a second separating the top four and the best of the rest.

While all four Cyan drivers spent at least brief spells at the top of the times, Bjork was always the last of the four to run and sealed pole with a 1m44.080s lap of the returning Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix circuit on his final run, beating Yvan Muller to pole by 0.073 seconds.

Three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx and Yann Ehrlacher used their runs to tow each other to fast laps, and it was Priaulx who ended up third by setting a 1m44.196s.

Ehrlacher had qualified fourth, but Cyan was denied a top-four lockout when the Frenchman received a five-place grid penalty for an unseen incident with the BRC Racing Hyundai of Augusto Farfus.

The front end of Farfus's i30 N was damaged after hitting the barrier at Gerlach, and the Brazilian did not return to the track after the incident - which consigned him to 18th.

None of the leading quartet opted for a fourth timed run in the final five minutes, such was the car's advantage over the rest of the pack.

Fifth went to WTCR rookie Mikel Azcona, who dragged his PWR Cupra to a time of 1m44.801s.

That put him three thousandths clear of the best of the Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTIs of Benjamin Leuchter, who improved late on to bump team-mate Johan Kristoffersson down to seventh.

The second PWR Cupra of Daniel Haglof was eighth, having caused a full-course yellow midway through the half-hour session after hitting a tyre stack, while Jean-Karl Vernay (WRT Audi RS3 LMS) and the third SLR VW of Mehdi Bennani completed the top 10.

Nicky Catsburg was the BRC Racing Hyundai outfit's lead representative in 11th, ahead of Frederic Vervisch (Comtoyou Audi) and Norbert Michelisz.

Munnich Motorsport's championship leader Nestor Girolami qualified 14th, but was handed a five-place grid drop for overtaking under red-flag conditions.

His place will instead be taken by Esteban Guerrieri, whose Honda Civic Type R moves up two places thanks to Girolami's demotion and an engine change penalty dropping Rob Huff's SLR VW to the back of the grid.

While the Lynk & Cos enjoyed a sizeable advantage, things were tight in the remainder of the pack.

Less than a second should have separated Azcona and Kevin Ceccon's Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce at the bottom of the pile, but Tiago Monteiro had his fastest time scrubbed off for causing a red flag at the end of the session and was relegated to the back.

His next best effort was 1.4s slower than Azcona's, and 2.137s off Bjork's benchmark.

Qualifying results