Yvan Muller beats Alain Menu to Curitiba World Touring Car Championship pole in all-Chevrolet battle
World Touring Car Championship points leader Yvan Muller claimed his third pole position of the season as Chevrolet dominated qualifying for round eight of the series at Curitiba
Fastest in both free practice sessions, the reigning world champion was prevented from having a comfortable run to pole owing to the stiff challenge offered by factory Chevrolet team-mate Alain Menu.
In the decisive second qualifying session, Muller suffered a dramatic oversteer moment on his first flying lap, before regaining his composure to lower his fastest time to 1m22.289s.
"I was focused all weekend on this session," said Muller, "but I knew it was going to be tight. Alain was only around a tenth to two tenths behind after my first attempt in Q1, and then just over a tenth slower again after my second attempt in Q2. I had a really big moment at the last corner in Q2, but I finally got it together."
Muller needed his final lap improvement to stay ahead of Menu. The Swiss was the final car across the line and ended the afternoon just 0.155 seconds shy of pole.
"Yvan did a better job than me," said a slightly subdued Menu. "I am still searching for a good feeling with the car and tyres, but second is a good recovery. I also had some oversteer moments in the quick corners, it is to do with how we set the car up for the slow stuff and I think it will be the same for the race."
In contrast, third-placed Rob Huff reported that he was content with his Cruze's handling, but had been prevented from qualifying higher after encountering trouble in the final sector of his hot lap.
"I have been struggling a little bit this weekend with the braking and turn-in to Turn 1," confessed Huff. "In Q2 I managed to do my best first sector so far, two or three tenths faster than anything else I have done this weekend. Unfortunately, the second sector was average and I lost ground at the end of the lap."
After Chevrolet's announcement three weeks ago that it would withdraw from factory WTCC competition at the end of the season, Huff was pleased with the manufacturer's showing.
"I am disappointed for myself, but I am really pleased for the team that we have five Chevrolets in the top six. After the bad news in the last weeks I really hope this lifts everyone's spirits."
Despite carrying 40kg of success ballast over their customer SEAT and BMW rivals, the RML-run works Chevrolets were joined at the sharp end by the private Bamboo Engineering Cruzes.
Series returnee Michel Nykjaer qualified fourth and took the independents' trophy pole for Bamboo.
"The car is fabulous, so I was hoping to be up at the front," admitted Nykjaer. "It is the same car that I race in Sweden. I went off at Turn 1 on two occasions, but I hope I can put on a good show tomorrow."
Lukoil SEAT racer Gabriele Tarquini took fifth, and prevented a Cruze clean-sweep of the top positions by outqualifying the second Bamboo Cruze of Alex MacDowall.
Darryl O'Young claimed seventh in his Special Tuning SEAT Leon WTCC ahead of Tiago Monteiro's Tuenti Racing Leon 1.6.
Norbert Michelisz's lone Zengo Motorsport BMW will start race two on pole position after qualifying 10th in Q2.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 1m22.289s 2. Alain Menu Chevrolet 1m22.444s + 0.155s 3. Rob Huff Chevrolet 1m22.592s + 0.303s 4. Michel Nykjaer Bamboo Chevrolet 1m22.765s + 0.476s 5. Gabriele Tarquini Lukoil SEAT 1m22.947s + 0.658s 6. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet 1m23.086s + 0.797s 7. Darryl O'Young Special Tuning SEAT 1m23.366s + 1.077s 8. Tiago Monteiro Tuenti SEAT 1m23.500s + 1.211s 9. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m23.516s + 1.227s 10. Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW 1m23.622s + 1.333s 11. Aleksei Dudukalo Lukoil SEAT 1m23.630s + 1.341s 12. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m23.927s + 1.638s 13. Alberto Cerqui ROAL BMW 1m24.293s Q1 14. Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT 1m24.360s Q1 15. Charles Ng Engstler BMW 1m24.528s Q1 16. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m24.601s Q1 17. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m24.652s Q1 18. Fernando Monje SUNRED SEAT 1m24.700s Q1 19. James Nash Arena Ford 1m24.902s Q1 20. Tom Chilton Arena Ford 1m24.986s Q1 21. Stefano D'Aste Wiechers BMW 1m25.121s Q1
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