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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