» WTCC: López closes on title with Suzuka pole

José María López has moved one step closer to claiming the FIA World Touring Car Championship crown at his first attempt by claiming pole position in an exciting shootout at the Suzuka Grand Prix Circuit.

The Argentine driver led yet another Citroën 1-2-3 lockout in Q3, edging out teammates Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb with one one-lap effort in the final qualifying heat.

The opening segment of qualifying saw the red flags out early, with TC2T-class driver Felipe de Souza predictably swapping ends in his Engstler BMW and beaching it in the gravel at Turn 8.

Once the session got going again, it was Muller who led the way in his Citroën C-Elysée from López, while Tom Chilton popped in an impressive lap to finish third-fastest in his ROAL RML Chevrolet as he continues his strong end to his season. All four Hondas made it through into Q2 at their home event, leaving the three LADAs and René Münnich as the four TC1 runners to be given an early bath.

The second phase of the session saw Muller, López, Loeb, Chilton and Hugo Valente make it into the top-five shootout for pole, with Valente bumping Norbert Michelisz and Gianni Morbidelli out of the running. Loeb only just scraped through, having to pump out an extra lap after being forced to back out of a quick tour where he was slipstreaming Tiago Monteiro.

Three-time Japan race-winner Tom Coronel was eighth-fastest in the ROAL RML Chevrolet, leaving Dušan Borković and Gabriele Tarquini ninth- and tenth-fastest, giving the pair a front row start for Sunday’s second race.

The final session saw Chilton with the Chevrolet Cruze battle with Valente, but it was predictably dominated by the all-conquering Citroëns. With all three posting similar S1 and S2 times, it was down to who was the bravest through the final sector of the lap.

In the end, Loeb made a slight mistake at the final corner, while López held out, lapping just 75 thousandths of a second quicker than Muller in the final reckoning. Having grabbed one more championship point than the Frenchman in qualifying, López simply needs a fourth-placed finish in Race 1 to claim the Drivers’ Championship title for himself.

Sunday’s first 11-lap race kicks off at 14:30 local time (GMT +9), with Race 2 following at 15:40.

2014 FIA WTCC Race of Japan – Final Qualifying:

	Q3 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
1.	José María López	Total Citroën Racing C-Elysée	2:05.439	TC1
2.	Yvan Muller	Total Citroën Racing C-Elysée	2:05.514	TC1
3.	Sébastien Loeb	Total Citroën Racing C-Elysée	2:05.590	TC1
4.	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	2:06.321	TC1
5.	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze	2:06.703	TC1
	Q2 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
6.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	2:06.865	TC1
7.	Gianni Morbidelli	Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	2:06.906	TC1
8.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	2:06.993	TC1
9.	Dušan Borković	Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze	2:07.132	TC1
10.	Gabriele Tarquini	Castrol Honda Racing Team Civic WTCC	2:07.305	TC1
11.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda Racing Team Civic WTCC	2:07.715	TC1
12.	Mehdi Bennani	Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCC	2:08.140	TC1
	Q1 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
13.	Rob Huff	LADA Sport Granta Sport 1.6T	2:08.241	TC1
14.	James Thompson	LADA Sport Granta Sport 1.6T	2:08.677	TC1
15.	Mikhail Kozlovskiy	LADA Sport Granta Sport 1.6T	2:09.472	TC1
16.	René Münnich	Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	2:10.014	TC1
17.	Franz Engstler	Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW E90 320TC	2:13.585	TC2
18.	John Filippi	Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC	2:13.892	TC2
19.	Felipe de Souza	Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW E90 320TC	2:16.951	TC2
	Outside 107%	Team	Time	Class
DNQ.	William Lok	Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC	no time	TC2