» WTCC: Michelisz on pole at Suzuka

Norbert Michelisz has won his first pole position of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season to give Honda a front-row start on home soil at this weekend’s round at the Suzuka East circuit.

The Hungarian moved into top spot during a tense final qualifying session by posting the weekend’s first sub-53-second lap time around the short 2.4-kilometre circuit on his one and only flying lap in Q2.

And when all of his chief rivals for top qualifying honours threw away their chances with mistakes or a marginal lack of pace, the Zengõ Motorsport driver was assured of pole position for Sunday’s opening 26-lap race.

Champion-elect Yvan Muller threw away his shot at pole position with a lurid slide as he hit Turn 1, while Gabriele Tarquini came undone with a trip through the Turn 3 gravel. Tarquini’s teammate Tiago Monteiro lost time in the middle sector.

That meant that Alex MacDowall and Tom Chilton were Michelisz’s closest challengers, with the former giving himself a front-row start in his Bamboo Chevrolet, ahead of RML teammates Tom Chilton and Muller.

MacDowall’s teammate James Nash and Tuenti Racing’s Pepe Oriola ensured five Chevrolets qualified in the top-seven, with the pair sandwiching Monteiro’s Honda on the timesheets.

Gabriele Tarquini – who is Yvan Muller’s sole championship rival – was eighth-fastest, and no doubt hoping that he will be on contention for a win in Race 2 when it translates into a second-row grid slot.

But the Italian will need to get ahead of the traditionally fast-starting BMWs of Tom Coronel and Mehdi Bennani, who were ninth- and tenth-fastest, which gives them the front row of the grid for Sunday’s second race. Coronel has a mighty record in Japan, and will be looking to claim his third win in his ‘adopted homeland’.

Fellow Brits Rob Huff and James Thompson made the top-twelve qualifying session as the sole SEAT and LADA runners in Q2, but neither was able to crack the top-ten, which gives them a sixth-row starting position for both races.

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

	Driver	Team	Q2 Time	YIT
1.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	52.886
2.	Alex MacDowall	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.125	Y
3.	Tom Chilton	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.215
4.	Yvan Muller	RML Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.233
5.	James Nash	Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.239	Y
6.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 0.479
7.	Pepe Oriola	Tuenti Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	+ 0.479	Y
8.	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda Civic WTCC	+ 0.493
9.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	+ 0.546
10.	Mehdi Bennani	Scuderia Proteam BMW 320TC	+ 0.580	Y
11.	Robert Huff	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	+ 0.649
12.	James Thompson	LADA Sport Granta	+ 0.762
	Q2 CUT-OFF: 53.711		Q1 Time
13.	Charles Ka-Ki Ng	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	53.733	Y
14.	Marc Basseng	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	53.812
15.	Takuya Izawa	JAS Honda Civic WTCC	53.827	A
16.	Fernando Monje	Campos Racing Team SEAT León WTCC	53.870	Y
17.	Hiroki Yoshimoto	NIKA Racing Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T	53.986	Y/A
18.	Stefano D’Aste	PB Sport BMW 320TC	53.991	Y
19.	Darryl O’Young	ROAL Motorsport BMW 320TC	54.027	Y
20.	René Münnich	Münnich Motorsport SEAT León WTCC	54.158	Y
21.	Masaki Kano	Liqui Moly Engstler BMW 320TC	54.263	Y/A
22.	Mikhail Kozlovskiy	LADA Sport Granta	54.292
23.	Tom Boardman	Special Tune Racing SEAT León WTCC	54.395	Y
24.	Yukinori Taniguchi	Wiechers-Sport BMW 320TC	54.471	Y/A
25.	Jerónimo Badaraco	Son Veng Racing Chevrolet Cruze LT	55.257	Y/A
26.	Henry Ho Wai Kun	Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si	55.611	Y/A
27.	Filipe de Souza	China Dragon Chevrolet Cruze LT	55.672	Y/A
28.	Ng Kin Veng	China Dragon Chevrolet Cruze LT	56.103	Y/A
29.	Mak Ka Lok	RPM Racing BMW 320si	56.478	Y/A

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
’A’ denotes Eurosport Asia Trophy entered driver