» WTCC: Björk wins maiden career pole

Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk has claimed his and Volvo’s first ever pole position in the FIA World Touring Car Championship after a dominant display at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

The Swede had been the quickest driver in Saturday’s second practice session, matching the effort in the second phase of qualifying to give himself the final run in the five-car one-lap shootout for pole position.

He then went on to clock a 1:52.505 to finish over three-tenths of a second clear of early championship leader Tiago Monteiro.

With Monza’s long straights disadvantaging the Honda Civic hatchback model, Monteiro was the Japanese marque’s sole representative in Q3, having surprisingly gone quickest in Saturday’s opening practice session.

Rob Huff claimed third place on the grid for Sunday’s Main Race in his Münnich Motorsport Citroën C-Elysée. After provisionally qualifying fifth-fastest in Q2, he was the first man on track for the one-lap pole shootout and posted a 1:52.968.

That time proved too good for Björk’s teammates, Nicky Catsburg and Néstor Girolami, who ensured all three Volvo S60s made the top-five shootout thanks to some smart teamwork where they ran as a three-car slipstream in Q1 and Q2.

Girolami could count himself unlucky after making an error at the Ascari chicane on his Q3 run that consigned him to fifth on the grid.

Monteiro’s teammate Norbert Michelisz ran out of time to try and sneak into Q3 and was unable to start another flying lap where Monteiro had planned to help slipstream the Hungarian around the 5.8-kilometre circuit.

He will start the Main Race from sixth place ahead of Tom Chilton, who was the quickest of the three Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën drivers. His teammate Mehdi Bennani was ninth-fastest, with the pair sandwich Morocco race-winner Esteban Guerrieri.

Guerrieri was forced to stage a recovery in qualifying after he had two of his lap times deleted for exceeding the track limits.

Fellow Chevrolet runner Tom Coronel qualified tenth-fastest – recovering after sliding up the escape road at the Variante Della Roggia chicane – to ensure he will have pole position for the reversed-grid Opening Race.

WTCC debutante Kevin Gleason qualified his RC Motorsport LADA Vesta fifteenth-fastest.

2017 FIA World Touring Car Championship Oscaro Race of Italy – Final Qualifying Results
	Q3 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
1.	Thed Björk	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	1:52.505
2.	Tiago Monteiro	Castrol Honda WTCC Team Civic WTCC	1:52.821
3.	Rob Huff	Münnich Motorsport Citroën C-Elysée	1:52.968	IND
4.	Nick Catsburg	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	1:53.013
5.	Néstor Girolami	Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 TC1	1:57.834
	Q2 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
6.	Norbert Michelisz	Castrol Honda WTCC Team Civic WTCC	1:52.606
7.	Tom Chilton	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	1:53.081	IND
8.	Esteban Guerrieri	Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze	1:53.404	IND
9.	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	1:53.584	IND
10.	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze	1:53.678	IND
11.	Ryo Michigami	Honda Racing Team JAS Civic WTCC	1:53.973
12.	Yann Ehrlacher	RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC	no time	IND
	Q1 Qualifiers	Team	Time	Class
13.	John Filippi	Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée	1:54.123	IND
14.	Aurélien Panis	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	1:54.221	IND
15.	Kevin Gleason	RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC	1:54.978	IND
16.	Dániel Nagy	Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC	1:55.040	IND