Yvan Muller scorches to World Touring Car pole position at Valencia

After heading both free practice sessions earlier on Saturday, Muller produced a 1m42.649s lap to take pole position in his RML-run Chevrolet Cruze. Points leader, Huff will start second, but his 1m43.105s was the best part of a half a second slower.

"Every change we made with the car today was good," said Muller. "Even between runs in qualifying, we improved the car. We've had this race in mind for a month now, and it's worked out exactly as planned."

Huff said: "Yvan is driving really well. Q1 was the first time I've been happy with the balance today, and then in Q2 I was too conservative on the first run and 110 per cent on the second, when I ran wide at the exit of Turn 1."

SEAT's Gabriele Tarquini put a stressful day behind him to claim third on the grid, impressing himself by being on the same tenth of a second as Huff, following serious brake and differential problems. Tiago Monteiro was fourth in the second SUNRED-run Leon, ahead of the first BMW of Tom Coronel (ROAL).

Alain Menu was sixth in the third Chevy, just ahead of Norbert Michelisz (Zengo BMW) and local hero Javier Villa (Proteam BMW).

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car          Time       Gap
 1.  Yvan Muller         Chevrolet          1m42.649s
 2.  Rob Huff            Chevrolet          1m43.105s  + 0.456s
 3.  Gabriele Tarquini   SUNRED SEAT        1m43.182s  + 0.533s
 4.  Tiago Monteiro      SUNRED SEAT        1m43.269s  + 0.620s
 5.  Tom Coronel         ROAL BMW           1m43.367s  + 0.718s
 6.  Alain Menu          Chevrolet          1m43.387s  + 0.738s
 7.  Norbert Michelisz   Zengo BMW          1m43.731s  + 1.082s
 8.  Javier Villa        Proteam BMW        1m43.759s  + 1.110s
 9.  Franz Engstler      Engstler BMW       1m44.077s  + 1.428s
10.  Michel Nykjaer      SUNRED SEAT        1m44.836s  + 2.187s
11.  Pepe Oriola         SUNRED SEAT        1m44.614s  Q1
12.  Kristian Poulsen    Engstler BMW       1m44.734s  Q1
13.  Darryl O'Young      Bamboo Chevrolet   1m44.741s  Q1
14.  David Sigacev       KK BMW             1m44.768s  Q1
15.  Fredy Barth         SUNRED SEAT        1m44.849s  Q1
16.  Stefano D'Aste      Wiechers BMW       1m44.905s  Q1
17.  Robert Dahlgren     Polestar Volvo     1m45.082s  Q1
18.  Yukinori Taniguchi  Bamboo Chevrolet   1m45.096s  Q1
19.  Aleksei Dudukalo    SUNRED SEAT        1m45.113s  Q1
20.  Fabio Fabiani       Proteam BMW        2m04.283s  Q1
21.  Mehdi Bennani       Proteam BMW                   Q1

Race two grid:

 1.  Franz Engstler      Engstler BMW
 2.  Tom Coronel         ROAL BMW
 3.  Michel Nykjaer      SUNRED SEAT
 4.  Javier Villa        Proteam BMW
 5.  Yvan Muller         Chevrolet
 6.  Tiago Monteiro      SUNRED SEAT
 7.  Rob Huff            Chevrolet
 8.  Norbert Michelisz   Zengo BMW
 9.  Alain Menu          Chevrolet
10.  Gabriele Tarquini   SUNRED SEAT
11.  Pepe Oriola         SUNRED SEAT
12.  Kristian Poulsen    Engstler BMW
13.  Darryl O'Young      Bamboo Chevrolet
14.  David Sigacev       KK BMW
15.  Fredy Barth         SUNRED SEAT
16.  Stefano D'Aste      Wiechers BMW
17.  Robert Dahlgren     Polestar Volvo
18.  Yukinori Taniguchi  Bamboo Chevrolet
19.  Aleksei Dudukalo    SUNRED SEAT
20.  Fabio Fabiani       Proteam BMW
21.  Mehdi Bennani       Proteam BMW

Race one grid = Top 10: Q2 results. From 11th: Q1 results
Race two grid = Top 10 is Q1 top 10 reversed. From 11th: Q1 results