The Chevrolets have done it again, with Alain Menu heading another Team RML clean sweep in qualifying for this weekend’s World Touring Car Championship Race of Portugal on the streets of Porto.
In a thrilling final qualifying session, Menu pulled out a stunning sub-2m05s lap to snatch pole position from team-mate Yvan Muller, while fellow Chevrolet runner and championship leader Robert Huff was fractionally slower in third place.
Running with less performance ballast for the first time with their new turbocharged engines, the SEATs had a better time of it in qualifying, with lead drivers Gabriele Tarquini and home crowd favourite Tiago Monteiro rounding out the top-five for tomorrow’s first of two ten-lap races.
Quickest of the BMW drivers in Q2 was Tom Coronel, but he was unable to do any better than sixth place after he spun exiting the final corner on his last flying lap.
Robert Dahlgren’s impressive run of form continued in the little Volvo C30, with the Swede qualifying seventh-fastest in Q2, scraping into the final phase of qualifying with a late flying lap that will see him start fifth for Sunday’s second ‘reverse grid’ race.
The remainder of Race 1’s top-ten on the grid is a BMW trio, with Norbert Michelisz going quickest of the Independent Trophy drivers in eighth, followed by WTCC returnee Stefano D’Aste and veteran driver Franz Engstler.
The first phase of qualifying was a closely-fought affair that threatened to deliver plenty of upsets with some big names being threatened with elimination from the top-ten shoot-out. Late last-minute laps from the likes of Alain Menu were enough to see the Swiss driver through, and those who made it could count themselves lucky after Kristian Poulsen brought the session to a halt when he crashed at the final corner.
Gabriele Tarquini registered the fastest time of all in Q1, while Stefano D’Aste (tenth-quickest) will start from the all-important pole position in Race 2, which will give the Italian a shot at a fairytale victory on his return race to the series.
But D’Aste will have his work cut out warding off the Chevrolets of Muller and Huff, who start right behind him on the grid.
————————————————————————————————————-
2011 FIA WTCC Race of Portugal Q1 & Q2 Session Times (Race 1 Grid):
| Driver | Team | Time | ||||
| 1. | Alain Menu |  |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T |  |
2:04.946 | (Q2) |
| 2. | Yvan Muller |  |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:05.280 | (Q2) |
| 3. | Robert Huff |  |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:05.284 | (Q2) |
| 4. | Gabriele Tarquini |  |
Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T |  |
2:05.548 | (Q2) |
| 5. | Tiago Monteiro |  |
SUNRED SR León 1.6T | |
2:05.656 | (Q2) |
| 6. | Tom Coronel |  |
ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC |  |
2:06.143 | (Q2) |
| 7. | Robert Dahlgren |  |
Polestar Volvo C30 1.6T |  |
2:06.678 | (Q2) |
| 8. | Norbert Michelisz |  |
Zengõ-Dension Team BMW 320TC | |
2:06.682 | (Q2) |
| 9. | Stefano D’Aste | |
Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC | |
2:06.722 | (Q2) |
| 10. | Franz Engstler |  |
Team Engstler BMW 320TC | |
2:06.770 | (Q2) |
| 11. | Michel Nykjær |  |
SUNRED SR León 1.6T | |
2:07.021 | |
| 12. | Darryl O’Young |  |
Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:07.066 | |
| 13. | Fredy Barth | |
Swiss SR León 1.6T | |
2:07.071 | |
| 14. | Javier Villa García |  |
Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC | |
2:02.072 | |
| 15. | Kristian Poulsen | |
Team Engstler BMW 320TC | |
2:07.134 | |
| 16. | Pepe Oriola | |
SUNRED SR León 1.6T | |
2:07.361 | |
| 17. | Aleksei Dudukalo |  |
Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI |  |
2:08.480 | |
| 18. | Yukinori Taniguchi |  |
Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:10.123 | |
| OUTSIDE 107% | 2:15.244 | |||||
| 19. | Mehdi Bennani |  |
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 Portugal Q1 Session Times (Race 2 Grid):
| Driver | Team | Time | |||
| 1. | Stefano D’Aste | |
Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC | |
2:06.987 |
| 2. | Yvan Muller | |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:06.964 |
| 3. | Robert Huff | |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:06.918 |
| 4. | Tiago Monteiro | |
SUNRED SR León 1.6T | |
2:06.838 |
| 5. | Robert Dahlgren | |
Polestar Volvo C30 | |
2:06.830 |
| 6. | Franz Engstler | |
Team Engstler BMW 320TC | |
2:06.827 |
| 7. | Norbert Michelisz | |
Zengõ-Dension Team BMW 320TC | |
2:06.789 |
| 8. | Tom Coronel | |
ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC | |
2:06.673 |
| 9. | Alain Menu | |
RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:06.622 |
| 10. | Gabriele Tarquini | |
Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T | |
2:06.397 |
| 11. | Michel Nykjær | |
SUNRED SR León 1.6T | |
2:07.021 |
| 12. | Darryl O’Young | |
Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:07.066 |
| 13. | Fredy Barth | |
Swiss SR León 1.6T | |
2:07.071 |
| 14. | Javier Villa García | |
Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC | |
2:02.072 |
| 15. | Kristian Poulsen | |
Team Engstler BMW 320TC | |
2:07.134 |
| 16. | Pepe Oriola | |
SUNRED SR León 1.6T | |
2:07.361 |
| 17. | Aleksei Dudukalo | |
Lukoil-SUNRED SEAT León 2.0 TDI | |
2:08.480 |
| 18. | Yukinori Taniguchi | |
Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | |
2:10.123 |
| OUTSIDE 107% | 2:15.244 | ||||
| 19. | Mehdi Bennani | |
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]
Richard Bailey
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