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.
————————————————————————————————————-
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
————————————————————————————————————-
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 |
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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