Citroën’s José María López claimed pole position for Round 23 of the World Touring Car Championship in Macau, heading teammates Sébastien Loeb and Yvan Muller.
López, who is tackling the street circuit for the first time this weekend, set a fastest lap of 2:24.294s in the third segment of qualifying that was enough for him to seal top spot by 0.228s from Frenchman Loeb, ahead of Sunday’s season-ending races.
The qualifying hour got off to a somewhat predictable start around the narrow streets, with Pepe Oriola – standing in for the injured Dušan Borković at Campos Racing – crashing his Chevrolet at Maternity, bringing the red flags out before anybody had had the chance to set a time.
As the session restarted, it was the Honda quartet of Tiago Monteiro, Gabriele Tarquini, Norbert Michelisz and Mehdi Bennani who headed onto the circuit first, with the former initially going fastest before Muller usurped him with a 2:26.918s.
The stoppage earlier in the session meant that by the time that drivers had set their first times and returned to the pits, half of the 30-minute Q1 had elapsed, and the field were keen to get on with things as Loeb went quickest with a time of 2:26.036s, while Tarquini and Rob Huff improved to fourth and seventh respectively, before Michelisz then set the fastest time in the session – a 2:25.920s.
Bennani’s second run hadn’t gone to plan, as he scuffed his tyres and found himself in 13th when he pitted for a third time, when he was forced to visit the weighbridge before he could return to the track.
But with the Moroccan able to rejoin the action, the pressure was on those in front of him to improve, and Ma Qing Hua in the fourth Citroën was that bit overzealous in his attempts to improve on a precarious 12th place, as he had a huge slide having set the fastest first sector. That hindered James Thompson in the LADA Granta, who finished the session in 14th place.
The session was then brought to a premature end by Thompson’s teammate Mikhail Kozlovskiy, who spun and blocked the track at Lisboa briefly. With the red flag flown for a second time and less than a minute-and-a-half remaining on the clock, race control decided not to restart the session, eliminating Bennani, Thompson, Kozlovskiy and René Münnich from the TC1 field.
Q2 was a much less dramatic affair, as the Citroën drivers all immediately got down to business on a less congested track, with López fastest on a 2:24.539s.
Just five minutes remained as the cars headed out for their final runs, although Gianni Morbidelli decided to remain in the pits, settling for 12th place on the grid for both of Sunday’s races.
Tarquini made a late attempt to claim a spot in the shootout, but narrowly missed out with sixth place. He was beaten by the three Citroëns, while Tom Coronel and Michelisz also made the final session after building on fast first runs. Hugo Valente will start the final race of the season from pole position having qualified in tenth, where he will head Tom Chilton and Huff.
Michelisz continued his fine form at the track with a 2:25.327s, which was good enough for fourth as Coronel hit the wall and aborted his lap, having been faster than the Hungarian in the first sector.
It was then left to the Citroën trio to battle for pole. Muller went first and set a WTCC lap record of 2:24.779s with his effort, before Loeb eclipsed that time by two-tenths-of-a-second with a time of 2:24.522s.
But taking to the track last, it was champion López who stole the show to claim a seventh pole of the season, with his 2:24.294s now the best lap by a World Touring Car around the street circuit.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:24.294 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:24.522 | 0.228 |
| 3 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:24.779 | 0.485 |
| 4 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 2:25.327 | 1.033 |
| 5 | 4 | TC1 | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 3 | 10:00.000+ | N/A |
| The below times are from Q2: | |||||||||
| 6 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 5 | 2:25.769 | 1.440 |
| 7 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 6 | 2:25.825 | 1.496 |
| 8 | 12 | TC1 | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport | LADA Granta 1.6T | 5 | 2:25.866 | 1.537 |
| 9 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 5 | 2:26.187 | 1.858 |
| 10 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 5 | 2:26.204 | 1.875 |