Farfus ends BMW pole drought
Augusto Farfus claimed BMW's first World Touring Car Championship pole position in almost a year with a last-gasp effort around the streets of Pau
The Schnitzer Motorsport driver put in a lap two-hundredths of a second faster than local hero Yvan Muller to earn himself pole at the circuit where he last year suffered a massive accident while attempting a similar late run in 2007.
"It's a very tough circuit and after last year, when I went from the air to the ground and then won the second race, it's great to be on pole," said Farfus. "Qualifying was tricky after all of free practice was in the wet and we weren't 100 percent sure about the setup.
"The race will be tough, but this is a very good start for us!"
Muller held on to second in the lead turbo-diesel SEAT Leon, with team-mates Jordi Gene and Gabriele Tarquini locking out the second row ahead of the fourth SEAT of Rickard Rydell.
Rob Huff was the best of the Chevrolet Lacettis in sixth ahead of Andy Priaulx and team-mate Nicola Larini.
Tiago Monteiro, in the last of the SEAT turbo-diesels, was eighth ahead of the second Schnitzer car of Jorg Muller.
Pole in the independents' trophy went to Oscar Nogues, who is making a one-off appearance for the SUNRED Engineering SEAT team as a prize for his performance in the opening round of the SEAT Leon Eurocup two weeks ago.
Pos Driver Make Time
1. Augusto Farfus BMW 1:21.960
2. Yvan Muller SEAT 1:21.980 + 0.020
3. Jordi Gene SEAT 1:22.276 + 0.316
4. G.Tarquini SEAT 1:22.449 + 0.489
5. Rickard Rydell SEAT 1:22.494 + 0.534
6. Robert Huff Chevrolet 1:22.511 + 0.551
7. Andy Priaulx BMW 1:22.679 + 0.719
8. Nicola Larini Chevrolet 1:22.790 + 0.830
9. Tiago Monteiro SEAT 1:22.826 + 0.866
10. Jorg Muller BMW 1:22.848 + 0.888
11. Alain Menu Chevrolet 1:23.046 + 1.086
12. A.Zanardi BMW 1:23.048 + 1.088
13. Tom Coronel SEAT 1:23.106 + 1.146
14. James Thompson Honda 1:23.209 + 1.249
15. Felix Porteiro BMW 1:23.255 + 1.295
16. Oscar Nogues SEAT 1:23.652 + 1.692
17. Stefano D'Aste BMW 1:23.817 + 1.857
18. Franz Engstler BMW 1:24.273 + 2.313
19. P-Y.Corthals SEAT 1:24.348 + 2.388
20. Laurent Cazenave BMW 1:24.410 + 2.450
21. Sergio Hernandez BMW 1:25.310 + 3.350
22. Andrey Romanov BMW 1:26.169 + 4.209
23. Jaap van Lagen Lada 1:26.685 + 4.725
Not qualified
Driver Make Time
V.Shapovalov Lada 1:28.812 + 6.852
Ibrahim Okyay BMW 1:30.425 + 8.465
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