Y Muller on pole at wet Valencia
Yvan Muller claimed his second World Touring Car Championship pole position with a virtuoso display in wet conditions at Valencia
The SEAT Leon TDI driver, who had struggled to match the pace of the leading SEATs and BMWs during free practice, took pole position with his first flying lap of the session.
Muller stayed on top of the timesheets throughout, with teammate Gabriele Tarquini putting in a last-gasp effort to snatch second away from Chevrolet's Alain Menu.
Rob Huff made it two Chevrolets in the top four with fourth place, comfortably ahead of the third SEAT diesel of Jordi Gene.
Reigning champion Andy Priaulx put in his best qualifying performance of the season to end the session as the best BMW in sixth, just in front of Schnitzer Motorsport pairing Jorg Muller and Augusto Farfus.
Alex Zanardi followed them in the ROAL Engineering BMW, one place ahead of the slowest Chevy of Nicola Larini.
N.Technology Honda Accord Euro R driver James Thompson took 12th on the grid despite never having driven the car in the wet before, ending the session just over one tenth off championship leader Rickard Rydell's SEAT.
In the Independents' Trophy, Stefano d'Aste took pole ahead of Proteam BMW team-mate Sergio Hernandez.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Yvan Muller SEAT Leon TDI 1:58.816 2. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Leon TDI 1:59.514 + 0.698 3. Alain Menu Chevrolet Lacetti 1:59.610 + 0.794 4. Robert Huff Chevrolet Lacetti 1:59.624 + 0.808 5. Jordi Gene SEAT Leon TDI 1:59.902 + 1.086 6. Andy Priaulx BMW 320si 1:59.941 + 1.125 7. Jorg Muller BMW 320si 2:00.043 + 1.227 8. Augusto Farfus BMW 320si 2:00.074 + 1.258 9. Alessandro Zanardi BMW 320si 2:00.211 + 1.395 10. Nicola Larini Chevrolet Lacetti 2:00.381 + 1.565 11. Rickard Rydell SEAT Leon TDI 2:00.407 + 1.591 12. James Thompson Honda Accord Euro R 2:00.543 + 1.727 13. Felix Porteiro BMW 320si 2:00.956 + 2.140 14. Stefano D'Aste BMW 320si 2:01.062 + 2.246 15. Sergio Hernandez BMW 320si 2:01.110 + 2.294 16. Pierre-Yves Corthals SEAT Leon 2:01.366 + 2.550 17. Tiago Monteiro SEAT Leon TDI 2:01.743 + 2.927 18. Jose Perez-Aicart SEAT Leon 2:01.821 + 3.005 19. Tom Coronel SEAT Leon 2:02.332 + 3.516 20. Franz Engstler BMW 320si 2:03.350 + 4.534 21. Andrei Romanov BMW 320si 2:04.394 + 5.578 22. Jaap Van Lagen Lada 110 2:04.796 + 5.980 23. Olivier Tielemans BMW 320si 2:05.774 + 6.958 24. Alexander Lvov Honda Accord Euro R 2:07.463 + 8.647 25. Ibrahim Okyay BMW 320si 2:13.114 + 14.298 26. Andrey Smetsky Honda Accord Euro R 2:13.139 + 14.323 27. Viktor Shapovalov Lada 110
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