» WTCC Spain: Muller claims pole for Race 1

Having been quickest in today’s two practice sessions, Chevrolet driver Yvan Muller has continued the rout in this weekend’s World Touring car Championship round at Valencia by claiming pole position in the afternoon’s qualifying session.

The defending champion broke the lap record en route to claiming pole by a comfortable margin. He shares the front row with his main championship rival and team-mate Robert Huff, although the Briton was almost half-a-second adrift.

SUNRED driver Gabriele Tarquini had looked to break Chevrolet’s front-row stranglehold by posting the fastest time in the first phase of qualifying on the team’s home circuit, but he had to settle for third-fastest in Q2, lapping just fractionally off Huff’s pace. He starts alongside team-mate Tiago Monteiro, who won the second race at the same event last year.

The third row is occupied by Tom Coronel – fastest of the four BMWs that made it into Q2 – and Alain Menu, with the Swiss driver needing a miracle to remain in the championship hunt after being unable to demonstrate the correct pace from his Chevrolet in either phase of qualifying. He was too speedy in Q1 – which means he starts ninth in Race 2’s semi-reversed grid – and too slow in Q2…

It’s an all-BMW fourth row for Race 1, with Norbert Michelisz lining up ahead of local hero Javier Villa as the BMW duo head the battle for the Independent Trophy standings, while the top-ten is rounded out by fellow independents Franz Engstler and Michel Nykjær.

With the top ten on the grid in Race 2 being determined by reversing the classification of the ten fastest drivers in Q1, Franz Engstler starts from prime position once again, no doubt hoping he can possibly repeat his second race heroics from a month ago at Oschersleben, where he claimed his long-awaited maiden WTCC win.

He shares the front row with Tom Coronel, while Nykjær and Garcia complete the second row.

Muller is the lead championship contender in fifth place – two spots ahead of Huff – while Monteiro splits the Chevrolets in sixth. The top ten is completed by Michelisz, Menu and Tarquini.

Spanish teen sensation Pepe Oriola was unlucky to miss a berth into Q2 with the 11th-fastest effort in Q1, while WTCC debutant David Sigacev qualified a creditable 140th.

Stefano D’Aste and Robert Dahlgren both disappointed in their more fancied entries, only qualifying 16th and 17th fastest. Dahlgren suffered from a lack of practice mileage courtesy of a spin in the opening practice session.

It’s also been a difficult day for the Proteam squad, with Mehdi Bennani failing to post a lap time following an off in second practice, while Fabio Fabiani yet again qualified outside the 107% threshold. The Italian suffered a sizeable high-speed accident at Turn 1 in the second practice session, comprehensively destroying his normally-aspirated BMW against the barriers.

————————————————————————————————————-

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

	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:42.649	(Q2)
2.	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:43.105	(Q2)
3.	Gabriele Tarquini	Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:43.182	(Q2)
4.	Tiago Monteiro	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:43.269	(Q2)
5.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:43.367	(Q2)
6.	Alain Menu	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:43.387	(Q2)
7.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ-Dension Team BMW 320TC	1:43.731	(Q2)
8.	Javier Villa García	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	1:43.759	(Q2)
9.	Franz Engstler	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:44.077	(Q2)
10.	Michel Nykjær	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:44.836	(Q2)
11.	Pepe Oriola	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:44.614
12.	Kristian Poulsen	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:44.734
13.	Darryl O’Young	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:44.741
14.	David Sigacev	DeTeam KK BMW 320TC	1:44.768
15.	Fredy Barth	Swiss SR León 1.6T	1:44.849
16.	Stefano D’Aste	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	1:44.905
17.	Robert Dahlgren	Polestar Volvo C30 ‘Drive’	1:45.082
18.	Yukinori Taniguchi	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:45.096
19.	Aleksei Dudukalo	Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:45.113

	OUTSIDE 107%		1:51.180
	Fabio Fabiani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si	2:04.283
	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	no time

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

————————————————————————————————————-

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

	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Franz Engstler	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:44.577
2.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:44.565
3.	Michel Nykjær	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:44.461
4.	Javier Villa García	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	1:44.395
5.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:44.155
6.	Tiago Monteiro	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:44.086
7.	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:44.060
8.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ-Dension Team BMW 320TC	1:44.047
9.	Alain Menu	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:43.992
10.	Gabriele Tarquini	Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:43.907
11.	Pepe Oriola	SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:44.614
12.	Kristian Poulsen	Team Engstler BMW 320TC	1:44.734
13.	Darryl O’Young	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:44.741
14.	David Sigacev	DeTeam KK BMW 320TC	1:44.768
15.	Fredy Barth	Swiss SR León 1.6T	1:44.849
16.	Stefano D’Aste	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	1:44.905
17.	Robert Dahlgren	Polestar Volvo C30 ‘Drive’	1:45.082
18.	Yukinori Taniguchi	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:45.096
19.	Aleksei Dudukalo	Lukoil-SUNRED SR León 1.6T	1:45.113

	OUTSIDE 107%		1:51.180
	Fabio Fabiani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si	2:04.283
	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	no time