Larini claims first pole in five years

The 44 year-old Italian, who is still chasing his maiden WTCC victory, made full use of a relatively light Lacetti (with only 19kg of success ballast) to eclipse SEAT's Rickard Rydell by a tenth of a second. Rydell's second place is his best qualifying position of the season.

"The last time I was on pole (in 2003) was also at Estoril, which is unbelievable," said Larini. "It's quite a dream for me because it has been such a difficult season.

"I'm convinced I can have a good race. It's the first time my baby son Davide has attended and if things go well tomorrow I think I will have to get him a ticket for (the next round) at Brands Hatch."

Larini's Chevrolet teammates Alain Menu and Robert Huff were third and fifth fastest, sandwiching Jordi Gene's SEAT. All three sat at the top of the timing screens during the 30-minute session.

Gene set the initial running before the benchmark was lowered by Huff, who had also topped the morning's final practice, to a 1:47.982.

At the half-way mark, Menu and Gene exchanged fastest times before Larini moved into provisional pole with 11 minutes remaining, setting a 1:47.449. The Italian later put a stranglehold on the position by shaving a tenth off his best lap.

Andy Priaulx was the highest-placed BMW driver in sixth ahead of Augusto Farfus.

Alain Menu does not share Larini's optimism over Chevrolet's race prospects, and expects the BMWs to feature more prominently over the race distance thanks to their lower tyre wear.

Championship leader Gabriele Tarquini, saddled with a maximum 70kg of success ballast, was eighth fastest while James Thompson will start last after suffering two engine failures in practice.

Pos Driver                  Car          Time         Gap
 1. Nicola Larini           Chevrolet    1:47.325
 2. Rickard Rydell          SEAT         1:47.475  +0.150
 3. Jordi Gene              SEAT         1:47.653  +0.328
 4. Robert Huff             Chevrolet    1:47.708  +0.383
 5. Andy Priaulx            BMW          1:47.724  +0.399
 6. Augusto Farfus          BMW          1:47.756  +0.431
 7. Gabriele Tarquini       SEAT         1:47.803  +0.478
 8. Yvan Muller             SEAT         1:47.912  +0.587
 9. Tiago Monteiro          SEAT         1:47.956  +0.631
10. Tom Coronel             SEAT         1:48.116  +0.791
11. Felix Porteiro          BMW          1:48.140  +0.815
12. Jorg Muller             BMW          1:48.297  +0.972
13. Sergio Hernandez        BMW          1:48.386  +1.061
14. Stefano d'Aste          BMW          1:48.559  +1.234
15. Alex Zanardi            BMW          1:48.603  +1.278
16. Franz Engstler          BMW          1:48.632  +1.307
17. Pierre-Yves Corthals    SEAT         1:48.749  +1.424
18. Tom Boardman            SEAT         1:49.508  +2.183
19. Jaap van Lagen          Lada         1:49.705  +2.380
20. Olivier Tielemans       BMW          1:50.060  +2.735
21. Kristian Poulsen        BMW          1:50.179  +2.854
22. Andrei Romanov          BMW          1:50.945  +3.620
23. Ibrahim Okyay           BMW          1:51.821  +4.496
24. Viktor Shapovalov       Lada         1:51.875  +4.550
25. Alain Menu              Chevrolet    1:47.606  +0.281 (penalty)