Reigning champion Yvan Muller took pole position in qualifying for the World Touring Car Championship at Spa Francorchamps, ahead of Citroën team-mates Sébastien Loeb and José María López.
In the decisive Q3 shootout Muller was 0.146 seconds faster than Loeb, after championship leader López made a mistake going through Eau Rouge on his attempt.
The result is Muller’s fourth pole of the season, the 25th of his WTCC career, and moves him an additional two points closer to López in the championship battle.
Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente qualified in fourth after only his second visit to Q3 in his touring car career, whilst Gabriele Tarquini was fifth fastest in the top Honda, 1.538 seconds off the pace in the final shoot-out.
Tiago Monteiro qualified his Honda in sixth, missing out on entry into Q3 by just 0.018 seconds. Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz was seventh, more than two seconds off the Q2 pace.
Completing the top ten were ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel in eighth, Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani in ninth and Münnich Motorsport’s Gianni Morbidelli in tenth. The latter will start race two from pole position.
The second Campos car of Dušan Borković just missed out on the reverse pole and will start from 11th ahead of the second ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet of Tom Chilton.
Surprisingly Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua missed out on Q2 and will start from 14th, with the top LADA of Rob Huff out-qualifying the Citroën driver in 13th.
Franz Engstler took pole in the TC2 class for the fifth time this season ahead of Pasquale di Sabatino and John Filippi. Norbert Nagy, making his début in the series this weekend, will start from last.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:23.497 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:23.643 | 0.146 |
| 3 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:23.688 | 0.191 |
| 4 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 3 | 2:24.646 | 1.149 |
| 5 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 2:25.035 | 1.538 |
| The below times are from Q2: | |||||||||
| 6 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 2:25.165 | 1.668 |
| 7 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 2:25.333 | 1.836 |
| 8 | 4 | TC1 | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 4 | 2:25.351 | 1.854 |
| 9 | 25 | TC1 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 4 | 2:25.549 | 2.052 |
| 10 | 10 | TC1 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 4 | 2:25.767 | 2.270 |