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Yvan Muller heads Valencia World Touring Car qualifying for Chevrolet

Chevrolet's Yvan Muller recovered from an opening qualifying session scare to claim pole position for race one of the World Touring Car Championship's Valencia round

The reigning world champion was forced to dig deep in order to finish among the top 12 fastest drivers in Q1, who progress to the decisive second session. Muller was stripped of an early fastest lap in Q1 for failing to respect the track limits at Turn 1.

"I am not sure what happened," said Muller. "I would like to see the replay, as I may have been on the white [pit exit] line at Turn 1, but I would be surprised if I was over it by very much."

To the relief of the Frenchman's RML team, Muller was able to produce a second fast lap on tyres past their optimum. Muller appeared in control in the second session, his time of 1m42.226s some 0.363 seconds faster than Q1 pacesetter Gabriele Tarquini.

Lukoil Racing's Tarquini attempt to overhaul Muller resulted in the Italian running into the gravel on the last lap, but the WTCC veteran was satisfied with the result.

"To be honest, I don't think I could have beaten Yvan's time," said SEAT driver Tarquini. "I just locked my tyres going into Turn 11 on my last lap, and I had to abort. But after pole in round one at Monza, I am very happy to be on the front row here."

Tarquini's Lukoil team-mate Aleksei Dudukalo took eighth position in Q2, but the rear of the Russian's SEAT Leon later went up in flames in parc ferme after the session.

ROAL Motorsport's Tom Coronel "maximised his potential" to take third and top BMW honours. The Dutchman counted himself fortunate to progress into the second session after suffering a driveshaft failure in Q1.

"I was about to start a lap when I lost drive, and I was only just able to duck into the pits and freewheel to my garage," said a relieved Coronel.

After encountering technical problems in second free practice, local hero Pepe Oriola claimed an excellent fourth overall and the Yokohama Independents' Trophy pole for Tuenti (SUNRED) Racing.

Muller's RML team-mate Rob Huff took fifth spot, while the third of the factory Cruzes of Alain Menu finished an unaccustomed ninth. There were solid performances from Independent BMW runners Norbert Michelisz, Zengo Motorsport, in sixth and Franz Engstler in seventh position.

Pole for race two will go to Stefano D'Aste, who was 10th quickest in Q2 - the top 10 of which is reversed to set the top of the race two grid.

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car             Time       Gap
 1.  Yvan Muller           Chevrolet            1m42.228s
 2.  Gabriele Tarquini     Lukoil SEAT          1m42.591s  + 0.363s
 3.  Tom Coronel           ROAL BMW             1m42.643s  + 0.415s
 4.  Pepe Oriola           Tuenti SEAT          1m42.829s  + 0.601s
 5.  Rob Huff              Chevrolet            1m42.862s  + 0.634s
 6.  Norbert Michelisz     Zengo BMW            1m42.994s  + 0.766s
 7.  Franz Engstler        Engstler BMW         1m43.108s  + 0.880s
 8.  Aleksei Dudukalo      Lukoil SEAT          1m43.410s  + 1.182s
 9.  Alain Menu            Chevrolet            1m43.472s  + 1.244s
10.  Stefano D'Aste        Wiechers BMW         1m43.544s  + 1.316s
11.  Tiago Monteiro        Tuenti SEAT          1m43.640s  + 1.412s
12.  Darryl O'Young        Special Tuning SEAT  1m43.832s  + 1.604s
13.  Alberto Cerqui        ROAL BMW             1m43.889s  Q1
14.  Alex MacDowall        bamboo Chevrolet     1m43.951s  Q1
15.  Mehdi Bennani         Proteam BMW          1m44.060s  Q1
16.  James Nash            Arena Ford           1m44.126s  Q1
17.  Gabor Weber           Zengo BMW            1m44.316s  Q1
18.  Pasquale di Sabatino  bamboo Chevrolet     1m44.342s  Q1
19.  Isaac Tutumlu         Proteam BMW          1m44.435s  Q1
20.  Fernando Monje        SUNRED SEAT          1m44.509s  Q1
21.  Tom Chilton           Arena Ford           1m44.702s  Q1
22.  Tom Boardman          Special Tuning SEAT  1m44.703s  Q1
23.  Andrea Barlesi        SUNRED SEAT          1m45.124s  Q1
24.  Charles Ng            Engstler BMW         1m45.716s  Q1

Race two grid:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car
 1.  Stefano D'Aste        Wiechers BMW
 2.  Alain Menu            Chevrolet
 3.  Aleksei Dudukalo      Lukoil SEAT
 4.  Franz Engstler        Engstler BMW
 5.  Norbert Michelisz     Zengo BMW
 6.  Rob Huff              Chevrolet
 7.  Pepe Oriola           Tuenti SEAT
 8.  Tom Coronel           ROAL BMW
 9.  Gabriele Tarquini     Lukoil SEAT
10.  Yvan Muller           Chevrolet
11.  Tiago Monteiro        Tuenti SEAT
12.  Darryl O'Young        Special Tuning SEAT
13.  Alberto Cerqui        ROAL BMW
14.  Alex MacDowall        bamboo Chevrolet
15.  Mehdi Bennani         Proteam BMW
16.  James Nash            Arena Ford
17.  Gabor Weber           Zengo BMW
18.  Pasquale di Sabatino  bamboo Chevrolet
19.  Isaac Tutumlu         Proteam BMW
20.  Fernando Monje        SUNRED SEAT
21.  Tom Chilton           Arena Ford
22.  Tom Boardman          Special Tuning SEAT
23.  Andrea Barlesi        SUNRED SEAT
24.  Charles Ng            Engstler BMW

Race one grid = Q2 times 1st-12th, Q1 times 13th on
Race two grid = Q2 top 10 reversed, Q2 order 11th/12th, Q1 times 13th on

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