Farfus on pole for home race
Augusto Farfus has taken pole position for his home round of the World Touring Car Championship at Curitiba in Brazil
"It's amazing," said Farfus. "I did a very good lap and now I am on pole for my home race.
"Today is simply unbelievable. Now I cross my fingers for tomorrow."
The Alfa Romeo driver intruded on SEAT's dominance of the leading positions, the Spanish cars having monopolised the top five before Farfus leapt to the top halfway through the session.
Jordi Gene still completes the front row for SEAT, ahead of his teammates Peter Terting, Gabriele Tarquini, Rickard Rydell and James Thompson.
Reigning champion Andy Priaulx's seventh place was comfortably the best performance by a BMW driver, with the Schnitzer cars of Jorg and Dirk Muller only 13th and 19th.
Alex Zanardi fared even worse - spinning on his first flying lap and consigning himself to the rear of the field.
Title contender Yvan Muller (SEAT) also struggled, ending up 17th.
By contrast, the semi-works Alfa Romeos all made it into the top ten after a run of disappointing races, with Gianni Morbidelli eighth and Salvatore Tavano 10th.
They sandwiched returning multiple European and Italian champion Fabrizio Giovanardi, who grabbed ninth on his one-off appearance in the JAS Honda.
Qualifying times:
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Augusto Farfus Alfa Romeo 156 1:24.761 2. Jordi Gene SEAT Leon 1:24.903 + 0.142 3. Peter Terting SEAT Leon 1:24.982 + 0.221 4. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Leon 1:25.042 + 0.281 5. Rickard Rydell SEAT Leon 1:25.162 + 0.401 6. James Thompson SEAT Leon 1:25.267 + 0.506 7. Andy Priaulx BMW 320si 1:25.272 + 0.511 8. Gianni Morbidelli Alfa Romeo 156 1:25.302 + 0.541 9. Fabrizio Giovanardi Honda Accord Euro R 1:25.316 + 0.555 10. Salvatore Tavano Alfa Romeo 156 1:25.321 + 0.560 11. Duncan Huisman BMW 320si 1:25.347 + 0.586 12. Tom Coronel SEAT Leon 1:25.451 + 0.690 13. Jorg Muller BMW 320si 1:25.534 + 0.773 14. Ryan Sharp Honda Accord Euro R 1:25.557 + 0.796 15. Luca Rangoni BMW 320si 1:25.597 + 0.836 16. Nicola Larini Chevrolet Lacetti 1:25.705 + 0.944 17. Yvan Muller SEAT Leon 1:25.726 + 0.965 18. Robert Huff Chevrolet Lacetti 1:25.765 + 1.004 19. Dirk Muller BMW 320si 1:25.823 + 1.062 20. Alain Menu Chevrolet Lacetti 1:25.923 + 1.162 21. Stefano D'Aste BMW 320i 1:26.360 + 1.599 22. Emmet O'Brien BMW 320i 1:26.476 + 1.715 23. Maurizio Ceresoli SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:26.626 + 1.865 24. Diego Romanini BMW 320i 1:27.352 + 2.591 25. Lucas Molo Alfa Romeo 156 1:27.517 + 2.756 26. Alessandro Zanardi BMW 320si 13:02.463 + 11:37.702
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