» WTCC UK: Muller claims pole

Mixed weather conditions threw qualifying for this weekend’s World Touring Car Championship round at Donington Park into chaos, but Chevrolet’s Yvan Muller kept his head through it all to claim pole position for tomorrow’s opening race.

The Frenchman headed a now-customary team 1-2-3 in both phases of qualifying, meaning that he will start from pole position for the first race, but tenth position for the second 13-lap event.

With both of today’s practice sessions having been rain-affected, the first phase of qualifying saw drivers greeted with a steadily drying track, only to be hit by a sudden short downpour just as the first 20-minute session got underway.

Typically the quicker drivers try to run at the bottom half of the top-ten on the timesheets to give themselves a good qualifying spot for Race 2, but the times kept changing so quickly as the conditions improved that all the usual tactics went straight out the window: it was simply a case of getting into the top-ten shootout.

One the lap times had sorted themselves out, Tom Coronel had been listed as tenth-fastest in the opening session, which will give the Dutchman pole for Race 2. He starts alongside SEAT driver Michel Nykjær, and then Javier Villa, Tiago Monteiro, Franz Engstler, Colin Turkington and Darryl O’Young.

The conditions saw some surprise eliminations at the end of the opening session, with Gabriele Tarquini (11th), Norbert Michelisz (18th) and Robert Dahlgren (19th) all failing to make the Q2 cut.

The three RML Chevrolets repeated the feat in the second phase of qualifying, with Muller’s late effort snatching pole from local hero Robert Huff. His compatriot, WTCC returnee Colin Turkington, qualified an impressive fifth on his one-off return to the series, a result that was all the more remarkable given he’d never driven a turbo BMW until yesterday morning.

Monteiro finished fourth-fastest and the quickest SEAT runner, while behind Turkington the top ten was completed by O’Young, Engstler, Coronel, Villa (who takes a five-place grid drop for a penalty stemming from the last round at Portugal) and Nykjær.

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

	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:38.470	(Q2)
2.	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:38.551	(Q2)
3.	Alain Menu	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:38.794	(Q2)
4.	Tiago Monteiro	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:39.167	(Q2)
5.	Colin Turkington	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	1:39.332	(Q2)
6.	Darryl O’Young	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:39.471	(Q2)
7.	Franz Engstler	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:39.686	(Q2)
8.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:39.966	(Q2)
9.	Michel Nykjær	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:40.152	(Q2)
10.	Gabriele Tarquini	Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:41.450
11.	Kristian Poulsen	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:41.530
12.	Fredy Barth	Swiss SR León 1.6T	1:41.557
13.	Pepe Oriola	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:41.590
14.	Javier Villa García*	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	1:40.047	(Q2)
15.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	1:42.179
16.	Yukinori Taniguchi	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:42.576
17.	Aleksei Dudukalo	Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:42.871
18.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ-Dension Team BMW 320TC	1:45.720
	OUTSIDE 107%		2:15.244
19.	Robert Dahlgren	Polestar Volvo C30	1:48.569
20.	Fabio Fabiani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si	1:55.478

Top-10 starting order determined via a separate top-ten single-lap qualifying session. * Denotes 5-place grid penalty

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

	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:41.431
2.	Michel Nykjær	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:41.392
3.	Javier Villa García	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	1:41.221
4.	Tiago Monteiro	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:41.214
5.	Franz Engstler	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:40.995
6.	Colin Turkington	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	1:40.965
7.	Darryl O’Young	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:40.895
8.	Alain Menu	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:40.838
9.	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:40.526
10.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:40.422
11.	Gabriele Tarquini	Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:41.450
12.	Kristian Poulsen	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:41.530
13.	Fredy Barth	Swiss SR León 1.6T	1:41.557
14.	Pepe Oriola	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:41.590
15.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	1:42.179
16.	Yukinori Taniguchi	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:42.576
17.	Aleksei Dudukalo	Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:42.871
18.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ-Dension Team BMW 320TC	1:45.720
	OUTSIDE 107%		1:47.451
19.	Robert Dahlgren	Polestar Volvo C30	1:48.569
20.	Fabio Fabiani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si	1:55.478