Chevrolet secured their sixth pole position of the season at Sonoma Raceway in California and saw four of their five cars finish the session inside the top six.
Swiss driver Alain Menu took his second Pole Position of the campaign in the dying seconds after coming out on top of a tough battle with the SEAT of Gabriele Tarquini and his Chevrolet team-mate Yvan Muller.
“It’s a great feeling to be on pole on such a driver circuit. I have to thank my engineer and all the boys because the car was simply perfect. We worked well on the set up and the balance of the Cruze and it paid off,” explained Menu.
“The track conditions evolved between Q1 and Q2 but the car was fantastic throughout. I managed a clear lap with no mistakes and the right rhythm, which is so important here.”
Lining up third on the grid is the current Championship leader Yvan Muller split from his team-mate by Tarquini. Muller admits that the circuit isn’t easy to drive.
“Alain did a great job today. Third is not bad and I am pleased with that, but I have some regrets because I didn’t drive that well, I made a couple of mistakes in the decisive laps, and I think I had the car to do better. The circuit is definitely not easy …” added Muller.
Rob Huff completed the top four and is pleased with his qualifying performance but is hoping for extra performance in the races tomorrow.
“I’m happy with my performance as I could have improved my time by two tenths compared to the time set in Q1. My first fast lap was a bit messy; I made a couple of mistakes and struggled in turn 2, but the second time round was much better. I am pleased because that’s everything I had on my car today. We’ll work on the set up tonight and I am sure we can make some improvements,” concluded Huff.
The fourth Chevrolet inside the top six came from bamboo engineering with Alex MacDowall finishing sixth fastest and second in the Yokohama Independents’.