Tarquini takes pole for home race

The championship leader took pole for the fourth time this season, having put his fellow works SEAT drivers in the shade in the all-important Q2 session.

"It is very nice for me to start from pole position for my home race," said Tarquini. "My home is just a short time away and all the people will be coming from my village so hopefully it will be nice for them."

The Italian will start his home race tomorrow alongside title rival and team-mate Yvan Muller, with Rickard Rydell making it a SEAT 1-2-3.

Rob Huff will share the second row with Rydell in his Chevrolet Cruze, with Tiago Monteiro fifth and Augusto Farfus sixth in the first BMW.

Andy Priaulx and Jordi Gene will start seventh and eighth, with Chevrolet team-mates Nicola Larini and Alain Menu completing the top 10 - the latter did not take part in Q2 after his Cruze returned to the pits spewing out oil at the end of Q1.

With only two BMWs making it into the top 10, Jorg Muller, Alex Zanardi and Sergio Hernandez were the first to miss out on Q1. Stefano D'Aste was the top independent car behind them in 14th with James Thompson's Lada pipping independent front runners Felix Porteiro and Tom Coronel.

Pos Driver                  Car             Q1              Q2
 1. Gabriele Tarquini       SEAT            1m56.139s       1m55.530s
 2. Yvan Muller             SEAT            1m55.840s       1m55.726s
 3. Rickard Rydell          SEAT            1m55.847s       1m55.891s
 4. Rob Huff                Chevrolet       1m56.610s       1m56.044s
 5. Tiago Monteiro          SEAT            1m56.189s       1m56.252s
 6. Augusto Farfus          BMW             1m56.393s       1m56.257s
 7. Andy Priaulx            BMW             1m56.873s       1m56.286s
 8. Jordi Gene              SEAT            1m56.392s       1m56.418s
 9. Nicola Larini           Chevrolet       1m56.704s       1m56.522s
10. Alain Menu              Chevrolet       1m56.972s       no time
11. Sergio Hernandez        BMW             1m57.026s
12. Jorg Muller             BMW             1m57.121s
13. Alex Zanardi            BMW             1m57.208s
14. Stefano D'Aste          BMW             1m57.306s
15. James Thompson          Lada            1m57.331s
16. Felix Porteiro          BMW             1m57.419s
17. Tom Coronel             SEAT            1m57.472s
18. Mehdi Bennani           SEAT            1m57.787s
19. Kristian Poulsen        BMW             1m57.962s
20. Franz Engstler          BMW             1m58.029s
21. Tom Boardman            SEAT            1m58.170s
22. Jaap van Lagen          Lada            1m58.388s
23. Kirill Ladygin          Lada            1m58.990s
24. Andrea Larini           SEAT            1m59.056s
25. Fabio Fabiani           BMW             2m02.619s