Muller earns his first pole of 2011

In a session where rain threatened throughout but failed to materialise, Muller's early lap time of 2m08.884s - the fastest WTCC lap so far this weekend - was never to be beaten, and the reigning champion went on to secure his first pole position of the season.

"So far, always in the top 10!" Muller told AUTOSPORT. "It's my first pole of the season, but it was tough. It was about time. I was very close to getting pole in Zolder but I made a mistake, which cost me pole. Here I just drove the car properly.

"We did a perfect job. I'm very pleased with that. So that's the way we have to do the rest of the season. Tomorrow I'll be flat out."

His Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff put a nightmare Hungaroring qualifying session behind him to secure the second place, but was left ruing a lost opportunity in the first half of qualifying.

Lying sixth, which would have placed him on the second row for the reversed grid race two, the championship leader went on to set a lap four tenths faster than his previous attempt, vaulting him to second. The Briton will therefore start race two from ninth.

ROAL Motorsport's Tom Coronel was a superb third fastest in his BMW, just pipping Chevrolet's Alain Menu. The Hungaroring race winner endured a problematic session. After heading for pit road following his first out-lap, Menu rejoined the session very late on, going on to secure fourth place in the dying seconds.

Norbert Michelisz was the lead independent driver in fifth for Zengo Dension Motorsport, just ahead of an increasingly competitive Robert Dahlgren for Polestar Racing, who was truly feeling the benefits of his Volvo's new 1.6.turbo engine.

Kristian Poulsen completed a solid day's work for Engstler in seventh, while SUNRED's Gabriele Tarquini continued development of his new 1.6 turbo engine by setting the eighth fastest time. Fellow SEAT runner Tiago Monteiro endured another nightmare session, and will start from the back row.

Bamboo Engineering's Darryl O'Young secured ninth on the grid just ahead of Franz Engstler, who will start the reversed grid race two from pole position.

Race one grid:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car           Time       Gap
 1.  Yvan Muller         Chevrolet          2m08.884s
 2.  Rob Huff            Chevrolet          2m09.256s  + 0.372s
 3.  Tom Coronel         ROAL BMW           2m09.717s  + 0.833s
 4.  Alain Menu          Chevrolet          2m09.830s  + 0.946s
 5.  Norbert Michelisz   Zengo Dension BMW  2m09.921s  + 1.037s
 6.  Robert Dahlgren     Polestar Volvo     2m09.998s  + 1.114s
 7.  Kristian Poulsen    Engstler BMW       2m10.326s  + 1.442s
 8.  Gabriele Tarquini   SUNRED SEAT        2m10.491s  + 1.607s
 9.  Darryl O'Young      Bamboo Chevrolet   2m10.559s  + 1.675s
10.  Franz Engstler      Engstler BMW       2m11.339s  + 2.455s
11.  Michel Nykjaer      SUNRED SEAT        2m10.959s  (Q1)
12.  Javier Villa        Proteam BMW        2m11.285s  (Q1)
13.  Mehdi Bennani       Proteam BMW        2m11.410s  (Q1)
14.  Pepe Oriola         SUNRED SEAT        2m11.687s  (Q1)
15.  Yukinori Taniguchi  Bamboo Chevrolet   2m11.832s  (Q1)
16.  Aleksei Dudukalo    SUNRED SEAT        2m11.899s  (Q1)
17.  Urs Sonderegger     Wiechers BMW       2m17.051s  (Q1)
18.  Tiago Monteiro      SUNRED SEAT        2m19.531s  (Q1)
19.  Fredy Barth         SUNRED SEAT

Race two grid:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car
 1.  Franz Engstler      Engstler BMW
 2.  Tom Coronel         ROAL BMW
 3.  Gabriele Tarquini   SUNRED SEAT
 4.  Darryl O'Young      Bamboo Chevrolet
 5.  Norbert Michelisz   Zengo Dension BMW
 6.  Alain Menu          Chevrolet
 7.  Kristian Poulsen    Engstler BMW
 8.  Yvan Muller         Chevrolet
 9.  Rob Huff            Chevrolet
10.  Robert Dahlgren     Polestar Volvo
11.  Michel Nykjaer      SUNRED SEAT
12.  Javier Villa        Proteam BMW
13.  Mehdi Bennani       Proteam BMW
14.  Pepe Oriola         SUNRED SEAT
15.  Yukinori Taniguchi  Bamboo Chevrolet
16.  Aleksei Dudukalo    SUNRED SEAT
17.  Urs Sonderegger     Wiechers BMW
18.  Tiago Monteiro      SUNRED SEAT
19.  Fredy Barth         SUNRED SEAT

Race one grid: Q2 top 10, Q1 times from 11th
Race two grid: Q1 top 10 reversed then Q1 times from 11th