» WTCC: Chilton ends Muller pole run

Tom Chilton has finally broken through to claim the first pole position of his FIA World Touring Car Championship career, narrowly edging out RML Chevrolet teammate Yvan Muller for top spot in a thrilling close to qualifying for this weekend’s round at Sonoma Raceway.

Muller held top spot and looked set to continue an unbroken run of pole positions in the dying minutes, only to be bettered by Chilton on the Englishman’s final flying lap, with most of the damage coming courtesy of a blistering opening sector.

That the Englishman was even in the final phase of qualifying was a miracle in itself. During Q1, he had a wild moment through Turn 2 after skidding off the track, and was fortunate to avoid biffing the barriers.

Tiago Monteiro will be hoping that his run of bad luck will come to an end this weekend, and he has put himself in a good position to net himself a decent result with the third-fastest time in his Honda. Teenage racer Pepe Oriola was fourth-fastest in his new Chevrolet, just under three-hundredths of a second slower than Monteiro.

Underlining the Chevrolet dominance was the fact that all six Cruze runners made it into the top-twelve shootout for pole position. Bamboo Engineering teammates Alex MacDowall and James Nash were fifth and sixth-fastest in their Bamboo Engineering entries.

The final Chevrolet runner, Michel Nykjær – who is also Muller’s only realistic championship rival – qualified ninth-fastest, but will start from the back of the grid for both races after his NIKA Chevrolet failed post-qualifying scrutineering checks, which found that his race seat was incorrectly positioned.

The result is a bitter blow for the Dane, all but handing a fourth Drivers’ Championship title to Muller, who can wrap up championship honours with another solid points haul this weekend.

SEAT runners Hugo Valente and Fernando Monje also fell foul of the same technical rule.

Seventh-fastest qualifier Norbert Michelisz will also start from the back of the grid – although only for Race 1 – after he was forced to change the engine under the hood of his Honda earlier in the day. The Hungarian qualified seventh-fastest, ahead of defending champion Rob Huff.

Gabriele Tarquini will start from pole position for Race 2 with his tenth-fastest qualifying time in the third Honda Civic.

2013 FIA WTCC Race of USA Q1 & Q2 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Q2 Time	YIT
1.	Tom Chilton	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	1:45.491
2.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.125
3.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 0.657
4.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.683	Y
5.	Alex MacDowall	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.828	Y
6.	James Nash	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.982	Y
7.	Norbert Michelisz^	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	+ 1.065
8.	Robert Huff	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 1.076
9.	Michel Nykjær*	NIKA Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 1.085	Y
10.	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 1.282
11.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	+ 1.336	Y
12.	Marc Basseng	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 2.128
	Q2 CUT-OFF: 1:46.957		Q1 Time
12.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:47.038
13.	Fredy Barth	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	1:47.078	Y
14.	Darryl O’Young	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	1:47.126	Y
15.	Hugo Valente*	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	1:47.145	Y
16.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	1:47.277	Y
17.	James Thompson	LADA Sport Granta	1:47.583
18.	Stefano D’Aste	PB Sport BMW 320TC	1:47.637	Y
19.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	1:47.892	Y
20.	Fernando Monje*	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	1:48.025	Y
21.	Mikhail Kozlovskiy	LADA Sport Granta	1:48.070
22.	René Münnich	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	1:48.279	Y
23.	Tom Boardman	Special Tune Racing SEAT León WTCC	1:48.530	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).
^ Demoted to the back of the grid for Race 1 for an unscheduled engine change.
* Demoted to the back of the grid for Races 1 and 2 for incorrectly positioned seats.