Hungary’s Norbert Michelisz has claimed his first-ever pole position in this afternoon’s World Touring Car Championship qualifying session in Slovakia, beating Aleksei Dudukalo to the top by less than one tenth of a second.
Click here for the full Round 7/8 Qualifying results.
Michelisz was the only driver to lap below 2 minutes 13, setting a time of 2:12.990 to take his first non-reverse grid pole. Lining up in second will be Lukoil’s Dudukalo, who scored his best-ever qualifying result in his second season in the WTCC. A strong qualifying session for the Lukoil Racing Team was completed by Gabriele Tarquini, who lines up in third for tomorrow’s first race.
Continuing his strong form was Team Aon’s James Nash, who lines up in fourth – his best qualifying result in the WTCC after only six races. Nash had earlier gone second fastest in Q1, one of only two drivers to go faster than the works Chevrolet’s. Tiago Monteiro will start from fifth tomorrow in the Sunred-powered SEAT Leon.
The first of the work’s Chevrolets was Yvan Muller in sixth, as the team endured their worst qualifying session since Japan 2009. Rob Huff will line up in seventh for the first race, with Pepe Oriola alongside him. Oriola had been fastest in
Alain Menu starts from eighth for tomorrow’s first race and Stefano D’Aste will be alongside him in tenth, with D’Aste therefore taking pole position for the second race.
Just missing out on the reverse grid, and therefore starting from 11th and 12th for both races tomorrow, will be Tom Chilton (11th) and Alberto Cerqui (12th).
Tom Coronel just missed out on the cut to get into Q2 and will therefore start from 13th for both races around the Slovakiaring. It is the Dutchman’s worst qualifying position since the 2010 season.
Franz Engstler was another BMW driver who missed the cut by just two tenths of a second and the German will therefore start from 14th.