Citroën’s José María López denied home hero Mehdi Bennani pole position in qualifying for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Marrakech, posting a lap just 0.255 seconds faster than the independent Citroën driver.
Bennani had looked to be in contention for a home pole when he posted a lap time half a second faster than the only other works’ Citroën to make it into Q3, that of Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua. With ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton not participating due to a gearbox fault and Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente having crashed, only López could deny Bennani a first outright pole.
However it would take a fool to bet against reigning champion López, who had earlier topped all three practice sessions. The Argentine’s lap in Q3 may not have been as fast as Q1 or Q2, but he delivered just enough to take the top spot to maintain a 100% success rate in 2015.
Earlier in Q3, Valente had managed just one corner before crashing his Chevrolet head-on into the barriers, whilst Chilton failed to even take to the track due to a gearbox fault which materialised in Q2.
Q2
López pulled out the fastest lap of the weekend so far in second qualifying, putting in a lap of 1:43.393 on his second effort to guarantee his place in Q3.
Frenchman Valente was a surprise second fastest, ahead of Ma, Bennani and Chilton. The Brit later admitted that he was actually disappointed to have made it into Q3 with fifth in Q2, as it puts him in sixth for the reverse grid second race.
Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz was the top Honda driver in sixth, missing out on Q3 entry by just four one hundredths of a second. The top works’ Honda driver was Tiago Monteiro in seventh.
Citroën drivers Sébastien Loeb and Yvan Muller did a good job of ensuring strong grid positions for race two by qualifying in eighth and tenth respectively. Muller will endure a grid penalty for race one anyway, with the Frenchman admitting before the weekend that he was aiming for the reverse-grid-earning tenth in Q2. Dutchman Tom Coronel split the pair in ninth, earning him a front row grid slot for race two for the second successive year in Morocco.
Q1
Missing out on entry into Q2 were all three LADAs, with Rob Huff qualifying in 13th after his car was hastily repaired following his second practice shunt. Team-mates James Thompson and Mikhail Kozlovskiy qualified in 16th and 18th respectively.
A downbeat Dušan Borković was 14th, with the Serb having lost his father in the weeks running up to the event.
Race one takes place at 16:15 BST (17:15 CEST) on Sunday, with race two following at 17:30 BST (18:30 CEST).
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:43.854 | ||
| 2 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:44.109 | 0.255 |
| 3 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:44.582 | 0.728 | |
| 4 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1 | No time | N/A |
| 5 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 0 | No time | N/A |
| The following times are from Q2 | |||||||||
| 6 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 6 | 1:44.102 | 0.709 |
| 7 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 7 | 1:44.118 | 0.725 | |
| 8 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 7 | 1:44.150 | 0.757 | |
| 9 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 5 | 1:44.177 | 0.784 |
| 10 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 6 | 1:44.185 | 0.792 | |