WTCC Monza: Thed Bjork beats Honda to hand Volvo first pole

Bjork had beaten Monteiro in the second qualifying segment, then repeated the feat in the top-five shootout after running last on track.

Monteiro was the only Honda driver to make it to Q3, with Monza's high-speed straights disadvantaging the hatchback Civic.

Rob Huff held onto third in his Munnich Motorsport Citroen C-Elysee, and as the first driver to take part in the shootout he was lucky not to be beaten by the second Polestar-run Volvo of Nestor Girolami.

Girolami was quicker through the opening sector, but lost time after making an error at the Ascari chicane that meant he eventually qualified fifth, behind team-mate Nicky Catsburg.

Honda's Norbert Michelisz missed out on his chance to join the shootout by mere seconds, with Q2 ending just as team-mate Monteiro was about to give his stablemate the benefit of a tow on a flying lap.

Tom Chilton qualified seventh in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen ahead of Morocco race winner Esteban Guerrieri, who rallied late after having two times deleted for track limits.

A late improvement in Q2 allowed Mehdi Bennani to go ninth, meaning Tom Coronel secured 10th and the reverse-grid pole for race one in his Chevrolet.

The third works Honda of Ryo Michigami qualified 11th ahead of WTCC rookie Yann Ehrlacher.

American Kevin Gleason qualified 15th in his SLR-run Citroen Elysee in his first WTCC weekend since his late switch ahead of last-placed Daniel Nagy.

Volvo made it two wins from two in the MAC3 time trial event and now leads the manufacturers' standings by six points following its victory.

The Swedish marque was first to run in MAC and ended over two seconds clear of Honda as its saloon-car advantage showed in the slipstreaming contest.

RACE ONE STARTING GRID:

RACE TWO STARTING GRID: