» WTCC: Michelisz on pole at Motegi

Zengő Motorsport driver Norbert Michelisz has claimed a brilliant pole position at Honda’s home race at the Twin Ring Motegi by outpacing championship leader José María López in the final one-lap shootout in qualifying.

The result marked the first time in almost a year that a non-Citroën driver has managed to claim outright pole. That he managed to outpace four of the five C-Elysées in the Q3 field underscored what an impressive feat this was.

The top-five shootout saw Michelisz joined by Mehdi Bennani and three of the works Citroëns of López, Ma Qing Hua and Sébastien Loeb. As the fifth-fastest Q2 qualifier, Bennani had the first run but found his time beaten by López.

The Argentine’s time proved too good for Ma and Loeb – who sandwiched Bennani on the timesheets – but that wasn’t the case for Michelisz, who overcame a slightly slower first sector of the lap with two brilliant final interval times to claim his first pole position since the Race of Japan at Suzuka in 2013.

The earlier phases of qualifying continued a much-predicted battle between the Citroëns and the Hondas, which locked out the top eight positions on the grid for Sunday’s first race. Four-time champion Yvan Muller was perhaps the biggest disappointment in only managing seventh-fastest, sandwiched between the two works Hondas of Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro on his sole qualifying run in Q2.

Tom Chilton looked to have claimed the tenth-fastest time and pole for the reversed-grid second race, but subsequently had his qualifying time disallowed for exceeding the track limits. That awarded the position to fellow RML Chevrolet runner Hugo Valente, who will share the front row with Nicky Catsburg’s LADA.

Sunday’s two races at the Twin Ring Motegi will be run over 13 laps apiece at 14:15 and 15:25 (UTC +9).

2015 FIA WTCC JVC Kenwood Race of Japan– Qualifying Results
	Q3 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
1.	Norbert Michelisz	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	1:55.596	IND
2.	José María López	Citroën Total WTCC C-Elysée	1:55.676
3.	Sébastien Loeb	Citroën Total WTCC C-Elysée	1:55.804
4.	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	1:55.835	IND
5.	Ma Qing Hua	Citroën Total WTCC C-Elysée	1:56.038
	Q2 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
6.	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda Racing Team JAS Civic WTCC	1:56.137
7.	Yvan Muller	Citroën Total WTCC C-Elysée	1:56.236
8.	Tiago Monteiro*	Honda Racing Team JAS Civic WTCC	1:56.635
9.	Nick Catsburg*	LADA Sport Rosneft Vesta WTCC	1:57.456
10.	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze	1:57.548	IND
11.	Nicolas Lapierre	LADA Sport Rosneft Vesta WTCC	1:57.702
12.	Tom Chilton*	ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	no time	IND
	Q1 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
13.	Rob Huff	LADA Sport Rosneft Vesta WTCC	1:57.383
14.	Grégoire Demoustier	Craft-Bamboo Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze	1:57.434	IND
15.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	1:57.663	IND
16.	John Filippi	Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze	1:58.104	IND
17.	Stefano D’Aste	Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	1:58.260	IND

Post-Qualifying Penalties:

Tom Chilton – who originally qualified tenth-fastest in Q2 – had his fastest lap time from the session disallowed for exceeding track limits.
Tiago Monteiro and Nick Catsburg will start Race 1 from the back of the grid following an unscheduled engine change.

Image via FIA WTCC Media