Qualifying: Larini takes pole at Magny-Cours

Larini grabbed the number one spot for Tuesday's Bank Holiday race late in the session, which took place on a drying Nevers circuit. A late flurry of fast laps looked set to topple the Italian, but his best lap of 1m44.656s was almost half a second clear of second-placed Eric Cayrolle's best effort when the chequered flag was waved.

"It was really difficult at the start," said Larini, "because we had wet tyres and with the front-wheel drive it is difficult with no downforce. I took on new tyres about halfway through and it was almost 90 percent dry, so I just pushed and managed to get pole."

Britain's Matt Neal, competing in his debut event in the ETC driving his Team Dynamics Nissan Primera, topped the time sheets early on, but fell down the order as the track began to dry out. The BTCC crowd-favourite, who lost his drive with Peugeot last week, wound up a creditable fifth.

Roberto Colciago finished third in his Audi A4 Quattro and would undoubtedly have finished higher had a dry-line not developed towards the end of the session.

Gabriele Tarquini came in to take on fresh tyres with less than 10 minutes to go, but the former BTCC champ was unable to improve his time and had to settle for fourth place in his Honda Accord.

Rounding out the top six came the second Audi A4 of Massimo Pagoli, more than two seconds behind pole-sitter Larini.

In the Super Production class, Duncan Huisman managed to demote the Ravaglia Motorsport pairing of Peter Kox and Norman Simon into second and third on the grid to take a dominant pole position almost a second clear at the top of the time sheets.


Nicola Larini Alfa Romeo 156 1m44.456s
Eric Cayrolle BMW 320 1m45.171s
Roberto Colciago Audi A4 1m45.377s
Gabriele Tarquini Honda Accord 1m45.664s
Matt Neal Nissan Primera 1m46.241s
Massimo Pagoli Audi A4 1m46.797s
Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo 156 1m46.872s
Angelo Lancelotti Alfa Romeo 156 1m47.084s
Fabrice Walfisch Honda Accord 1m47.172s
Sandro Sardelli Nissan Primera 1m 47.254s