Monteiro claims maiden WTCC pole

The Portuguese, in his first season of touring cars in the factory SEAT team, displaced the Chevrolet Lacetti of Nicola Larini from the top spot on his final lap.

"Obviously in these conditions anything can happen, but I've always liked the wet," said Monteiro. "It was very slippery and the conditions were very tricky, but in the last five minutes the sun came out and it started to dry out a tiny bit. I was able to push hard and take a lot of risks."

Larini, who survived a brief off-track moment in the middle of the session, was satisfied with second on the grid as he is carrying maximum success ballast.

"There is a 50kg difference between me in Tiago, so this is a very good result," said Larini. "It was very difficult to stay on the track - it was very easy to make mistakes in these conditions."

Chevrolet teammate Rob Huff claimed third on the grid despite a run through the gravel early in the session. Like Monteiro, he set his time on the final lap of the session.

Swedish Touring Car Championship regular Fredrik Ekblom put in an impressive performance to take fourth on the grid on his first appearance of the season in a second RBM-run BMW 320si, one place ahead of compatriot Rickard Rydell, who was making his WTCC return with Chevrolet.

Jordi Gene took sixth in the new diesel-powered SEAT Leon, one place ahead of the regularly-fuelled SEAT Italia machine of leading independent Roberto Colciago.

Tom Coronel claimed ninth for the GR Asia Seat team ahead of the N.Technology Alfa Romeo 156 of James Thompson.

Former British Formula Ford Champion Robert Dahlgren was 13th in his bioethanol-powered Volvo S60, one place ahead of the second diesel Leon of Yvan Muller.

It was a bad day for the championship leaders, with Andy Priaulx the best of the three drivers fighting for the title. The RBM BMW driver will start 15th, three places ahead of the Schnitzer Motorsport machine of Augusto Farfus and five ahead of points leader Jorg Muller.

Pos  Driver              Car         Time
 1.  Tiago Monteiro      SEAT        1:50.056
 2.  Nicola Larini       Chevrolet   1:50.173  + 0.117
 3.  Robert Huff         Chevrolet   1:50.832  + 0.776
 4.  Fredrik Ekblom      BMW         1:50.922  + 0.866
 5.  Rickard Rydell      Chevrolet   1:50.983  + 0.927
 6.  Jordi Gene          SEAT        1:51.040  + 0.984
 7.  Gabriele Tarquini   SEAT        1:51.076  + 1.020
 8.  Roberto Colciago    SEAT        1:51.110  + 1.054
 9.  Tom Coronel         SEAT        1:51.215  + 1.159
10.  James Thompson      Alfa Romeo  1:51.216  + 1.160
11.  Alex Zanardi        BMW         1:51.240  + 1.184
12.  Felix Porteiro      BMW         1:51.289  + 1.233
13.  Robert Dahlgren     Volvo       1:51.352  + 1.296
14.  Yvan Muller         SEAT        1:51.477  + 1.421
15.  Andy Priaulx        BMW         1:51.500  + 1.444
16.  Luca Rangoni        BMW         1:51.620  + 1.564
17.  Alain Menu          Chevrolet   1:51.633  + 1.577
18.  Augusto Farfus      BMW         1:51.655  + 1.599
19.  Michel Jourdain Jr  SEAT        1:51.685  + 1.629
20.  Jorg Muller         BMW         1:51.740  + 1.684
21.  Stefano D'Aste      BMW         1:51.765  + 1.709
22.  Carl Rosenblad      BMW         1:51.798  + 1.742
23.  P-Y.Corthals        SEAT        1:52.206  + 2.150
24.  O.Tielemans         Alfa Romeo  1:52.827  + 2.771
25.  Sergio Hernandez    BMW         1:53.131  + 3.075
26.  M.Ceresoli          SEAT        1:53.196  + 3.140
27.  Alexander Lvov      Honda       1:54.336  + 4.280
28.  Andrey Smetsky      Honda       1:59.990  + 9.934