Rob Huff was the fastest of the Chevrolet drivers
Augusto Farfus claimed his and BMW's first pole position of the season at the end of an eventful session that had been delayed by a half-an-hour for the track to be repaired after a support race. The asphalt had dried and the drivers were finally able to set faster times than in this morning's wet practice sessions.
Farfus took pole position in the final minutes with a lap of 1:21.960 that was 0.030 slower than last year's fastest lap by Alain Menu. SEAT Sport's Yvan Muller had the provisional pole for most of the session and eventually was classified second 0.020 behind the leader. His team-mate Jordi Gene took third with a time of 1:22.276; two other SEAT drivers, Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell, finished in fourth and fifth positions respectively.
Robert Huff rounded off the top six with his Chevrolet and fellow countryman Andy Priaulx put his BMW Team UK car into seventh. These were impressive results for both drivers considering the incidents they had suffered in the earlier practices.
It was an eventful qualifying, which started with Ibrahim Okyay and Franz Engstler colliding on the pit straight; the Turkish's BMW crashed into the barriers and retired. Minutes later Sergio Hernandez crashed at Turn 7 and pulled out, while James Thompson clipped the wall and rejoined. As the session went on Oscar Nogues spun at Turn 6, Menu hit the barrier after Turn 12 and could not continue, Alessandron Zanardi and Farfus both brushed the barriers at Turn 5, Gabriele Tarquini went straight at Turn 2.
The battle for the pole was mainly a Muller vs Farfus affair, however Gene had managed to clock a provisional fastest lap in the early stages. Nogues put his SUNRED SEAT onto pole for the Independents' class to conclude a successful day for the young Spaniard. His time of 1:23.652 put him in sixteenth position overall, ahead of Stefano D'Aste and Franz Engstler.
BULLET NEWS
LADA REMAIN NOT ELIGIBLE TO SCORE
Like in Valencia two weeks ago, the two LADA 110 cars of Viktor Shapovalov and Jaap van Lagen will not be eligible to score championship points in Pau.
The Russian cars failed again to pass the scrutineering because the intake and outlet ports of the cylinder head did not conform to the homologation form. With the agreement of all the other competitors, the Stewards decided to let them race as transparent cars in Pau and in the next meeting at Brno.
However the team must introduce the needed changes so that their cars comply before Estoril as no further derogations will be conceded.
THE GRID
Pos Driver Car Time
1. Augusto Farfus BMW 320si 1:21.960
2. Yvan Muller SEAT Leon TDI 1:21.980
3. Jordi Gene SEAT Leon TDI 1:22.276
4. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Leon TDI 1:22.449
5. Rickard Rydell SEAT Leon TDI 1:22.494
6. Rob Huff Chevrolet Lacetti 1:22.511
7. Andy Priaulx BMW 320si 1:22.679
8. Nicola Larini Chevrolet Lacetti 1:22.790
9. Tiago Monteiro SEAT Leon TDI 1:22.826
10. Jorg Muller BMW 320si 1:22.848
11. Alain Menu Chevrolet Lacetti 1:23.046
12. Alex Zanardi BMW 320si 1:23.048
13. Tom Coronel SEAT Leon TFSI 1:23.106
14. James Thompson Honda Accord 1:23.209
15. Felix Porteiro BMW 320si 1:23.255
16. Oscar Nogues SEAT Leon TFSI 1:23.652
17. Stefano D'Aste BMW 320si 1:23.817
18. Franz Engstler BMW 320si 1:24.273
19. Pierre-Yves Corthals SEAT Leon 1:24.348
20. Laurent Cazenave BMW 320si 1:24.410
21. Sergio Hernandez BMW 320si 1:25.310
22. Andrey Romanov BMW 320si 1:26.169
23. Jaap van Lagen Lada 110 1:26.685
24. Viktor Shapovalov Lada 110 1:28.812
25. Ibrahim Okyay BMW 320si 1:30.425