Porteiro claims maiden pole

The ROAL BMW 320si driver, carrying just 5kg of ballast, posted a best lap of 2:11.504 on his last lap of the session to take pole with championship leader Andy Priaulx taking second for the RBM team despite a maximum load of 60kg.

"I had a very good last lap," said Porteiro. "My weight is much less than other drivers and that's the reason I am on pole. There will be a little pressure for me in the race, but I am not fighting for the championship so I have nothing to lose."

Schnitzer Motorsport's Jorg Muller and the second ROAL car of Alex Zanardi locked out the second row, with SEAT's Jordi Gene, running the marque's experimental higher-compression engine, the only non-BMW in the top six. Brazilian Augusto Farfus took sixth in the second Schnitzer car.

Independent championship contender Pierre-Yves Corthals will start seventh ahead of the RML Chevrolet Lacetti of Alain Menu, although indie points leader Luca Rangoni wasn't far behind in ninth in his Proteam Motorsport BMW.

SEAT's Gabriele Tarquini ran in the top six for much of the session before slipping down to tenth in the closing stages, with Chevy driver Nicola Larini 11th ahead of WCC returnee Massimiliano Pedala's SEAT Italia-run Leon.

N.Technology Alfa Romeo 156 driver James Thompson will start 14th ahead of former team-mate Yvan Muller's SEAT, while Tiago Monteiro's SEAT and Rob Huff's Chevy will start down in 18th and 19th respectively.

Pos  Driver          Make        Time
 1.  Felix Porteiro  BMW         2:11.584
 2.  Andy Priaulx    BMW         2:11.949 + 0.365
 3.  Jorg Muller     BMW         2:12.042 + 0.458
 4.  A.Zanardi       BMW         2:12.145 + 0.561
 5.  Jordi Gene      SEAT        2:12.376 + 0.792
 6.  Augusto Farfus  BMW         2:12.406 + 0.822
 7.  P-Y.Corthals    SEAT        2:12.607 + 1.023
 8.  Alain Menu      Chevrolet   2:12.669 + 1.085
 9.  Luca Rangoni    BMW         2:12.752 + 1.168
10.  G.Tarquini      SEAT        2:12.837 + 1.253
11.  Nicola Larini   Chevrolet   2:12.896 + 1.312
12.  M.Pedala        SEAT        2:12.935 + 1.351
13.  Stefano D'Aste  BMW         2:12.947 + 1.363
14.  James Thompson  Alfa Romeo  2:13.101 + 1.517
15.  Yvan Muller     SEAT        2:13.132 + 1.548
16.  Tom Coronel     SEAT        2:13.231 + 1.647
17.  Tiago Monteiro  SEAT        2:13.297 + 1.713
18.  M.Jourdain Jr   SEAT        2:13.482 + 1.898
19.  Robert Huff     Chevrolet   2:13.595 + 2.011
20.  M.Ceresoli      SEAT        2:14.488 + 2.904
21.  O.Tielemans     Alfa Romeo  2:14.960 + 3.376
22.  Emmet O'Brien   SEAT        2:15.599 + 4.015
23.  Philip Geipel   Toyota      2:16.802 + 5.218
24.  Davide Roda     BMW         2:19.461 + 7.877