Muller on pole as diesels dominate

Muller, who is 14 points behind championship leader Andy Priaulx with four races remaining, jumped ahead of teammates Jordi Gene and Gabriele Tarquini on his final run to take his first career WTCC pole.

"I'm very pleased because I have missed a lot of pole positions this season by a very small amount," said Muller. "It really was about teamwork - it's very nice to look in your mirror and see six or seven SEATs behind you!"

Best of the rest were Chevrolet pairing Nicola Larini and Alain Menu. Like SEAT, the three works Lacettis ran together throughout qualifying to optimise the slipstream effect, with Larini joining Menu in the top six on his second run of the session.

Augusto Farfus took sixth place for Schnitzer Motorsport ahead of fellow BMW driver Felix Porteiro, who overcame an oil leak to be the last of the drivers within a second of pole.

N.Technology Alfa Romeo 156 driver James Thompson was eighth after struggling to find the optimum tow during qualifying. He will start ahead of Independents' Trophy pole man Luca Rangoni and the second Schnitzer car of Jorg Muller.

Independents' points leader Pierre-Yves Corthals was second-best of the indie runners in 12th, one place behind the lead petrol-powered SEAT of Tiago Monteiro.

Priaulx was the worst-placed of the title contenders in 13th, one place ahead of WTCC returnee Oscar Nogues in his SEAT, with the third Chevy of Rob Huff down in 16th.

Pos   Driver             Car          Time
 1.   Yvan Muller        SEAT TDI     1:59.487
 2.   Jordi Gene         SEAT TDI       +0.400
 3.   G.Tarquini         SEAT TDI       +0.517
 4.   Nicola Larini      Chevrolet      +0.835
 5.   Alain Menu         Chevrolet      +0.871
 6.   Augusto Farfus     BMW            +0.899
 7.   Felix Porteiro     BMW            +0.958
 8.   James Thompson     Alfa Romeo     +1.010
 9.   Luca Rangoni       BMW            +1.135
10.   Jorg Müller        BMW            +1.189
11.   Tiago Monteiro     SEAT           +1.376
12.   P-Y.Corthals       SEAT           +1.378
13.   Andy Priaulx       BMW            +1.545
14.   Oscar Nogues       SEAT           +1.546
15.   Tom Coronel        SEAT           +1.561
16.   Robert Huff        Chevrolet      +1.572
17.   O.Tielemans        Alfa Romeo     +1.583
18.   Roberto Colciago   SEAT           +1.642
19.   A.Zanardi          BMW            +1.725
20.   Fredrik Ekblom     BMW            +1.732
21.   M.Jourdain Jr      SEAT           +1.781
22.   Stefano D'Aste     BMW            +1.974
23.   Sergio Hernandez   BMW            +2.300
24.   Tomas Engstrom     Honda          +2.628
25.   M.Ceresoli         SEAT           +2.915
26.   Miguel Freitas     Alfa Romeo     +4.170