Menu leads Hungaroring qualifying
Chevrolet pairing Alain Menu and Yvan Muller put themselves in the ideal position to close the points gap to team-mate Rob Huff after locking out the front row in qualifying at the Hungaroring
Menu pipped Muller to pole by just 0.111s to top qualifying for the first time this season, while Huff failed even to make the Q2 top 10 shoot-out.
Huff was only 13th after his first run, but did briefly climb into the top 10 on his second attempt. However, he was bumped out of a slot in Q2 by improved laps from Norbert Michelisz and Daryl O'Young. This leaves him 12th on the grid for both races.
Proteam Racing's Javier Villa continued his impressive rookie campaign with third on the grid in his BMW, comfortably his best World Touring Car Championship qualifying performance, after topping Q1.
The Spaniard will line up for race one ahead of fellow BMW 320 drivers Tom Coronel and Michelisz.
Perhaps the star of qualifying was Robert Dahlgren in the Polestar Racing-run Volvo C30. After showing strong form during practice, he will start a career-best sixth, ahead of SEAT's Tiago Monteiro, after lapping only four tenths off Menu's pole time in Q2.
Mehdi Bennani, driving a Proteam BMW, will start the second race from pole position by dint of ending Q1 in 10th, just a tenth-and-a-half ahead of O'Young, who will start 11th for both races after just missing the top 10 in Q1.
Menu will be second on the race two grid ahead of Kristian Poulsen and Coronel, with Muller starting eighth after setting the third fastest Q1 time.
The Lehmann-developed 1.6-litre turbo SEAT engine also made its debut today. Running under national homologation and rebranded as the SR Leon 1.6T, drivers Michel Nykjaer, Pepe Oriola and Fredy Barth will line up in positions 13th through 15th.
The three other SUNRED-entered seats of Tarquini, Monteiro and Aleksei Dudukalo, continue to run the two-litre turbo powerplants.
Race one grid: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Alain Menu Chevrolet 1m56.546s 2. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 1m56.657s + 0.111s 3. Javier Villa Proteam BMW 1m56.710s + 0.164s 4. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m56.912s + 0.366s 5. Norbert Michelisz Zengo-Dension BMW 1m56.923s + 0.377s 6. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo 1m56.945s + 0.399s 7. Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT 1m56.974s + 0.428s 8. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 1m57.048s + 0.502s 9. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT 1m57.073s + 0.527s 10. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m57.376s + 0.830s 11. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet (Q1) 12. Robert Huff Chevrolet (Q1) 13. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT (Q1) 14. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT (Q1) 15. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT (Q1) 16. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW (Q1) 17. Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT (Q1) 18. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet (Q1) 19. Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMW (Q1) Race two grid: Pos Driver Team/Car 1. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 2. Alain Menu Chevrolet 3. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 4. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 5. Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT 6. Norbert Michelisz Zengo-Dension BMW 7. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT 8. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 9. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo 10. Javier Villa Proteam BMW 11. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet 12. Robert Huff Chevrolet 13. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT 14. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT 15. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT 16. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 17. Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT 18. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet 19. Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMW Race one grid: Q2 top 10, Q1 times from 11th Race two grid: Q1 top 10 reversed then Q1 times from 11th
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