Citroën’s Yvan Muller beat LADA’s Nicky Catsburg to take pole position for the main World Touring Car Championship race in Slovakia, with reigning champion José María López in third.
LADA’s Catsburg had looked set to take a shock pole for the Russian marque, but having been fastest of all in the second sector he lost time in the final corner and ended up just 0.040 seconds behind Muller.
Citroën’s champion, López was third, despite having had the upper hand over his team-mate in both Q1 and Q2.
Honda duo Norbert Michelisz and Rob Huff completed the Q3 top five, with the former having lost time in the second sector to prevent him from a genuine chance at pole. Huff never looked to be in contention on his run and ended up 0.841 seconds off the pace.
Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk just missed out on entry to Q3 and put his Volvo in sixth, ahead of the third works’ Honda of Tiago Monteiro in seventh and LADA’s Gabriele Tarquini in eighth, who earlier lost time on his Q2 run when he skated through the gravel.
Valente gives LADA a chance in opening race
Further back, the reverse grid for the opening race will see LADA’s Hugo Valente starting from pole position, with the Frenchman having strong pace in Q1, which he ended as the fastest runner of all.
Valente ended up tenth fastest in Q2, and will have Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani alongside him after the Moroccan racer put his Citroën in ninth in the Q2 order.
Further back, the second SLR Citroën of Tom Chilton missed out on entry into Q2 by two tenths of a second and will start from 11th for both races, whilst Volvo’s Fredrik Ekblom was 12th fastest.
Although he had shown strong pace in second practice, Münnich Motorsport stand-in James Thompson was unable to replicate his position in qualifying, leaving the Brit to start both races from 15th on the grid.
ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel also struggled for pace in his Chevrolet, and the Dutchman may have to start from the back of the grid due to not having properly respected an early red flag stoppage which was caused due to gravel and debris being strewn across the circuit.
MAC3
The second-ever MAC3 qualifying session started with drama, as LADA’s Nicky Catsburg got off to a very slow start, with the Dutchman blaming the ‘completely wrong’ starting system used by the marque.
With one driver playing catch-up, Catsburg then picked up a puncture on the second lap, denying LADA a complete run and leaving them last in the ranking.
Citroën, again using independent racer Mehdi Bennani, then posted a benchmark time of 4:17.233.
The Honda trio were faster than Citroën in the first and sectors, before losing time in the third sector to bring the advantage down to 0.001 seconds. The Honda trio then lost a further fraction in the final sector, giving them a dead heat time with Citroën.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:03.910 | ||
| 2 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 3 | 2:03.950 | 0.040 | |
| 3 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:04.191 | 0.281 | |
| 4 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 2:04.378 | 0.468 | |
| 5 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 2:04.751 | 0.841 | |
| The following times are from Q2 | |||||||||
| 6 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 3 | 2:04.821 | 0.524 | |
| 7 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 2:04.883 | 0.586 | |
| 8 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 3 | 2:04.950 | 0.653 | |
| 9 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 2:04.998 | 0.701 | |
| 10 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 4 | 2:05.022 | 0.725 | |