» WTCC: Huff on pole at Macau

Aspiring FIA World Touring Car champion Rob Huff has claimed an all-important pole position for Sunday’s traditional curtain-closer on the streets of Macau.

The Englishman broke the circuit’s qualifying lap record in the process, and will start Race 1 alongside team-mate and championship outsider Yvan Muller.

It was little surprise that the pace-setting Chevrolet trio made it through to Q2, and also that Tiago Monteiro managed the same in his ballast-reduced works Honda Civic S2000. The Portuguese driver had regularly featured at the sharp end of the timesheets during Thursday’s test session and Friday’s two practice sessions.

The first phase of qualifying was brought to a temporary halt when Fredy Barth crashed his SEAT at Police Bend, badly damaging the front of his León, but fortunately without causing himself any injuries.

The field tried to improve on their lap times when the session resumed, but with traffic so heavy around the circuit, none was able to do so.

This left a frustrated Tom Coronel having to sit on the sidelines once again in Q2, joining the two AON Ford entries of James Nash and Tom Chilton as the only two non-independent regular drivers who would have an early bath.

The second phase of qualifying saw Huff immediately set his record-breaking, and ultimately untouchable, benchmark lap, which gave him an extra five championship points in his pocket to extend his championship lead to 37 points over Alain Menu (who qualified third-fastest) and 42 points over Yvan Muller.

Gabriele Tarquini managed to claim the ‘best of the rest’ honours in his final outing for SEAT.

The Italian veteran just edged out his 2013 Honda team-mate Tiago Monteiro, who took the little Civic S2000 to the giddy heights of fifth place on the grid. Given it is just the third race weekend with the new car, this was all the more impressive and it bodes well for next year’s championship.

Sixth-fastest went to Darryl O’Young, who claimed the Independent Trophy pole position honours in is Bamboo Engineering Chevrolet, one spot ahead of class leader Norbert Michelisz, who will be battling for title honours with Pepe Oriola and Stefano D’Aste this weekend.

O’Young’s team-mate Alex MacDowall qualified tenth-fastest, and earns pole position for Sunday’s second nine-lap race.

2012 FIA WTCC Guia Race of Macau Q1 & Q2 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Q2 Time	YIT
1.	Robert Huff	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	2:29.422
2.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	2:30.144
3.	Alain Menu	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	2:30.488
4.	Gabriele Tarquini	Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC	2:30.936
5.	Tiago Monteiro	JAS Honda Civic S2000 TC	2:31.539
6.	Darryl O’Young	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	2:31.643	Y
7.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport BMW 320TC	2:31.670	Y
8.	Mehdi Bennani	Proteam Racing BMW 320TC	2:32.157	Y
9.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	2:32.475	Y
10.	Alex MacDowell	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	2:32.521	Y
11.	Stefano D’Aste	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	2:33.025	Y
12.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	2:33.107	Y
	Q2 CUT-OFF: 2:33.091		Q1 Time
13.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	2:33.181
14.	Tom Boardman	Special Tune Racing SEAT León WTCC	2:33.270	Y
15.	Fredy Barth	Swiss Racing SEAT León WTCC	2:33.358	Y
16.	James Nash	Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC	2:34.792
17.	Tom Chilton	Team Aon Ford Focus S2000 TC	2:34.969
18.	Aleksei Dudukalo	Lukoil Racing SEAT León WTCC	2:35.025	Y
19.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	2:35.180	Y
20.	André Couto	Tuenti Racing SR León 1.6T	2:35.218	Y
21.	Fernando Monje	SUNRED Engineering SEAT León WTCC	2:35.307	Y
22.	Kei Cozzolino	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	2:39.020	Y
23.	Joseph Merszei	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320si	2:40.785	Y
	107% CUT-OFF: 2:41.466		Q1 Time
NQ.	Henry Ho Wai Kun	Five Auto Racing Team BMW 320si	2:42.170	Y
NQ.	Célio Alves Dias	China Dragon Chevrolet Lacetti	2:43.630	Y
NQ.	Eurico de Jesus	Five Auto Racing Honda Accord R	2:43.816	Y
NQ.	Filipe de Souza	China Dragon Chevrolet Lacetti	no time	Y
NQ.	Kin Veng Ng	China Dragon Chevrolet Cruze LT	no time	Y
NQ.	Mak Ka Lok	RPM Racing BMW 320si	no time	Y

The starting order for Race 1 is determined by the qualifying results indicated above, unless states otherwise. The ten-fastest drivers – as indicated by their Q2 fastest times – start in reverse starting order for Race 2, unless stated otherwise. (‘Y’ denotes Yokohama Independent Trophy entered driver).