Sébastien Loeb scored a first-ever pole position in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) on home soil at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, as Citroën scored a 1-2-3-4 with Yvan Muller second and José María López in third.
Loeb beat team-mate Muller to pole by just 0.125 seconds, with the former rally champion making his biggest gains in the third sector, having been marginally slower in the first part of the lap.
It marks Loeb’s first outright pole, provided his car passes scrutineering, after the Frenchman was stripped of his first pole at the same circuit in 2014 when his and López’s car were found to have malfunctioning fuel shut-off valves.
“It was very close,” said Loeb. “I had to take some risks and try to avoid making a mistake. I did a good lap. In the last sector I was nearly over the limit – I lost the car in corner nine but I caught it back. Pole position in France – that’s great.”
José María López, who was fastest in Q2, and Ma Qing Hua, who was fastest in Q1, made it a Citroën 1-2-3-4 at the manufacturer’s home race.
The ‘best-of-the-rest’ was the Chevrolet Cruze of ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton in fifth, marking the second time this season that the Brit has made it into the final part of qualifying.
Just missing out on entry into Q3 at his home event was Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente in sixth, ahead of the lead Honda of Tiago Monteiro in seventh.
Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz was the only other Honda driver to make it into Q2, as both the works’ Honda of Gabriele Tarquini and Nika Racing’s Rickard Rydell failed to make the cut, ending up down in 14th and 17th places respectively.
LADA’s Jaap van Lagen and Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani completed the top ten and will start race two from the front row of the grid respectively, with Bennani securing his first reverse-grid pole position since he won in Shanghai in 2014.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Grégoire Demoustier made a first Q2 appearance with a season-best qualifying result of 11th, ahead of the second LADA of Nicky Catsburg in 12th.
It was a disappointing session for Rob Huff, who failed to make it through to Q2, having been in Q3 at both of the previous events. The Brit suffered from broken left-rear suspension and a damaged brake line after making slight contact on his final run in Q1.
The second ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet of Tom Coronel also just missed out on progressing into Q2, with the Dutchman lining up in 13th place for both of Sunday’s races.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:29.245 | ||
| 2 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:29.370 | 0.125 | |
| 3 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:29.378 | 0.133 | |
| 4 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 1:29.617 | 0.372 | |
| 5 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 3 | 1:29.831 | 0.586 |
| The following times are from Q2 | |||||||||
| 6 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 5 | 1:30.133 | 0.514 |
| 7 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 5 | 1:30.158 | 0.539 | |
| 8 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 5 | 1:30.559 | 0.940 |
| 9 | 46 | Jaap VAN LAGEN |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 4 | 1:30.843 | 1.224 | |
| 10 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 1:31.345 | 1.726 |