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

————————————————————————————————————-

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

Top-10 starting order determined reversing the order of the ten fastest drivers in Q1.

[Original images via FIA WTCC Media]

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Richard Bailey

Founder & Chief Editor at MotorsportM8

Hasn't missed a Grand Prix since 1989. Has a soft spot for Minardi. Tattooed with 35+ Grand Prix circuits.

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