» WTCC Belgium: Huff on pole for Race 1

Robert Huff has again continued his sparkling qualifying form by heading a Chevrolet 1-2 in qualifying for the first of tomorrow’s two races in the World Touring Car Championship’s Race of Belgium at Zolder.

With the RML Chevrolets looking clear favourites to take outright pole after heading the timesheets in the day’s earlier practice sessions, all three drivers comfortably made it into the afternoon’s top-ten qualifying session, where Huff took pole from team-mate Alain Menu by just 0.140 seconds.

Their team-mate and defending series champion Yvan Muller could have made it a Chevrolet trifecta when he set on his final hot lap with a clear track in front of him, but he blotted his copybook when he ran wide at Turn 4. He will start from fourth, behind former WTCC champion Gabriele Tarquini, who hauled his underpowered SEAT to third-quickest, less than three-tenths slower than Huff’s pole time.

Tiago Monteiro – fastest in the opening qualifying session – will start from fifth place for tomorrow’s opening race, and the bottom half of the top-ten shootout is made up solely of Independent Trophy drivers, with Kristian Poulsen, Norbert Michelisz, Franz Engstler, Fredy Barth and Mehdi Bennani completing the starting order.

Barth was the tenth-quickest runner in the opening session, and with the top-ten-fastest drivers’ places reversed for the Race 2 grid, this means the Swiss driver will start from pole alongside Engstler. Huff will start from fifth place for Race 2, and is the best-placed Chevrolet driver.

The qualifying session saw a few noticeable absentees, with Tom Coronel just missing out on a Q2 berth after a difficult qualifying session that saw the Dutchman complain of braking problems after the session was over.

Michel Nykjær was another driver to miss out on a Q2 berth. The SEAT driver clipped a guardrail at the chicane on his out-lap and was unable to continue.

The two Bamboo Engineering entries would also be disappointed that neither of their brand-new Chevrolet Cruze turbos was able to make much of an impression, particularly after Darryl O’Young had featured in the top-ten in practice. O’Young and team-mate Yukinori Taniguchi will start from 14th and 17th for tomorrow’s two races.

2011 FIA WTCC Race of Belgium Q1 & Q2 Session Times (Race 1 Grid):

	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:38.458	(Q2)
2.	Alain Menu	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:38.598	(Q2)
3.	Gabriele Tarquini	Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:38.723	(Q2)
4.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:38.738	(Q2)
5.	Tiago Monteiro	SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:38.907	(Q2)
6.	Kristian Poulsen	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:39.398	(Q2)
7.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ-Dension Team BMW 320TC	1:39.450	(Q2)
8.	Franz Engstler	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:39.962	(Q2)
9.	Fredy Barth	Swiss SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:40.015	(Q2)
10.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	1:40.438	(Q2)
11.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:39.680
12.	Pepe Oriola	SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:39.780
13.	Robert Dahlgren	Polestar Volvo C30	1:39.807
14.	Darryl O’Young	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:39.931
15.	Aleksei Dudukalo	Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:40.110
16.	Marchy Lee Ying Kin	KK Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:40.406
17.	Yukinori Taniguchi	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:41.712
18.	Urs Sonderegger	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	1:43.537
19.	Fabio Fabiani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si	1:44.820
20.	Michel Nykjær	SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	no time
21.	Javier Villa García	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	no time

Top-10 starting order determined via a separate top-ten single-lap qualifying session

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2011 FIA WTCC Race of Belgium Q1 Session Times (Race 2 Grid):

	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Fredy Barth	Swiss SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:39.638
2.	Franz Engstler	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:39.583
3.	Gabriele Tarquini	Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:39.493
4.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ-Dension Team BMW 320TC	1:39.417
5.	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:39.373
6.	Alain Menu	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:39.367
7.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:39.365
8.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	1:39.328
9.	Kristian Poulsen	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:39.293
10.	Tiago Monteiro	SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:38.952
11.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:39.680
12.	Pepe Oriola	SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	1:39.780
13.	Robert Dahlgren	Polestar Volvo C30	1:39.807
14.	Darryl O’Young	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	time
14.	Darryl O’Young	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:39.931
16.	Marchy Lee Ying Kin	KK Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:40.406
17.	Yukinori Taniguchi	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:41.712
18.	Urs Sonderegger	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	1:43.537
19.	Fabio Fabiani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si	1:44.820
20.	Michel Nykjær	SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI	no time
21.	Javier Villa García	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	no time