Menu leads all-Chevrolet front row

Menu and his RML team-mate Rob Huff each produced a tremendous lap in the dying seconds of Q2 to pinch the front row from their rival BMWs, which had set the pace throughout practice.

BMW drivers Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus sat atop the timesheet after their second flying laps of the Q2 shootout, but the Chevrolets improved their practice times by seven tenths of a second to steal the show in qualifying.

Menu, who has won one WTCC race at Brands for the last three years, dipped into the 1m33.5s to set the fastest time of the weekend so far.

Priaulx and Farfus will share the second row for tomorrow's rolling start, just ahead of the SEATs of Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini. Nicola Larini, Jorg Muller, Tiago Monteiro and guest independent SEAT driver Norbert Michelesz complete the top 10 as the other drivers to take part in Q2.

Farfus, who had gone quickest in both practice sessions this morning, only just squeezed into Q2, setting the quickest time of Q1 on the last lap of the session, knocking out championship leader Yvan Muller in the process.

The Volvo of Robert Dahlgren, leading independents Felix Porteiro and Tom Coronel and works drivers Sergio Hernandez and Jordi Gene were among the others to miss out on a place in Q2 as half a second covered second to 14th places in the first round of qualifying.

Pos Driver                 Car           Q1            Q2
 1. Alain Menu             Chevrolet     1m34.088s     1m33.521s
 2. Rob Huff               Chevrolet     1m34.184s     1m33.618s
 3. Andy Priaulx           BMW           1m34.216s     1m33.670s
 4. Augusto Farfus         BMW           1m33.836s     1m33.696s
 5. Rickard Rydell         SEAT          1m34.093s     1m33.871s
 6. Gabriele Tarquini      SEAT          1m34.294s     1m33.963s
 7. Nicola Larini          Chevrolet     1m34.110s     1m33.968s
 8. Jorg Muller            BMW           1m34.187s     1m34.195s
 9. Tiago Monteiro         SEAT          1m34.182s     1m34.204s
10. Norbert Michelisz      SEAT          1m34.213s     1m34.857s
11. Yvan Muller            SEAT          1m34.366s
12. Felix Porteiro         BMW           1m34.380s
13. Robert Dahlgren        Volvo         1m34.497s
14. Tom Coronel            SEAT          1m34.559s
15. Sergio Hernandez       BMW           1m34.680s
16. Jordi Gene             SEAT          1m34.859s
17. Stefano D'Aste         BMW           1m34.921s
18. Alex Zanardi           BMW           1m35.033s
19. Jaap van Lagen         Lada          1m35.118s
20. Tom Boardman           SEAT          1m35.227s
21. Tommy Rustad           Volvo         1m35.363s
22. Kristian Poulsen       BMW           1m35.517s
23. Vito Postiglione       BMW           1m35.710s
24. Franz Engstler         BMW           1m35.831s
25. James Thompson         Lada          1m35.950s
26. Philip Geipel          BMW           1m36.245s
27. Kirill Ladygin         Lada          1m37.102s