Dane Michel Nykjær and Brit James Nash will share the front row of the grid for Round 9 of the World Touring Car Championship at the Salzburgring, after a plethora of penalties were applied post-qualifying.
Nykjær originally qualified in fifth, whilst Nash was originally tenth. The duo are promoted to the front row of the grid after they were the only two drivers from Q2 who were not penalised following the sport’s most farcical qualifying session.
Occupying the second row of the grid are Proteam’s Mehdi Bennani and LADA’s Mikhail Kozlovskiy – with the young Russian scoring his and his team’s best-ever starting position in the WTCC as a result.
Following the qualifying debacle, WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti hit out at the drivers for going so slowly, all because they did not want to be the driver leading the pack and providing a slipstream to those following.
“There is an article in the International Sporting Code that says it is not permitted to drive too slowly and without any reason – reason means a technical reason or a yellow flag,” explained Lotti. “This is what happened; all those drivers were driving around the track at 46kph. It’s really too slow!
“There will be no changes to the Race 2 reverse grid as all the penalties refer to Race 1. Some journalists have criticised the track and said that in some way the track was at fault. Absolutely not – the track layout is perfect and is probably the best of the traditional touring car circuits. In any case, the track is fully licenced by the FIA.”
The full Round 9 grid:
| POS | DRIVER | ORIGINAL | PENALTY | FINE |
| 1. | Michel Nykjær | 5th | None | None |
| 2. | James Nash | 10th | None | None |
| 3. | Mehdi Bennani | 13th | None | None |
| 4. | Mikhail Kozlovskiy | 14th | None | None |
| 5. | Fredy Barth | 15th | None | None |
| 6. | Franz Engstler | 16th | None | None |
| 7. | Marc Basseng | 17th | None | None |
| 8. | James Thompson | 19th | None | None |
| 9. | Charles Kaki Ng | 20th | None | None |
| 10. | René Münnich | 21st | None | None |
| 11. | Fernando Monje | 22nd | None | None |
| 12. | Alex MacDowall | 4th | +8 | €3,000 |
| 13. | Yvan Muller | 1st | +12 | €3,000 |
| 14. | Rob Huff | 3rd | +10 | €1,000 |
| 15. | Tom Chilton | 2nd | +12 | €3,000 |
| 16. | Stefano D’Aste | 11th | +5 | €1,000 |
| 17. | Darryl O’Young | 18th | +5 | €1,000 |
| 18. | Pepe Oriola | 8th | +16 | €6,000 |
| 19. | Tom Coronel | 12th | +15 | €4,000 |
| 20. | Hugo Valente | 23* | +5 | €3,000 |
| 21. | Gabriele Tarquini | 6th** | +24 | €6,000 |
| 22. | Tiago Monteiro | 7th** | +12 | €3,000 |
| 23. | Norbert Michelisz | 9th** | +12 | €3,000 |
| * All qyalifying times were disallowed for technical infringement. | ||||
| ** All Honda drivers were sent to the back of the grid for having a non-conforming rear wing. | ||||