Muller blasts to Oschersleben pole

Date published : 30 Jul 2011 - 13:15:30

Yvan Muller captured his third pole position in four World Touring Car races with a storming effort at Oschersleben which left him more than half a second clear of the field.Having spent Q1 under the threat of elimination, Muller was on top throughout the Q2 shootout, topping the timesheets before and after the field pitted for new rubber.It was his final effort which grabbed the headlines however, as he found chunks of time on fresh tyres to dip into the 1m33s bracket and finish more than half a second clear of his rivals."It was almost the perfect lap, which is not easy here, especially in these cold conditions," Muller said. "I am very pleased - even more so when I saw my gap to the others."Muller's Chevrolet team-mate and championship leader Rob Huff will start directly behind him in third, having been edged out by Polestar Volvo's Robert Dahlgren - the Swede's front row slot representing Volvo's best qualifying performance in the WTCC.SUNRED SEAT's Gabriele Tarquini will start from fourth, having qualified eight tenths down on Muller.ROAL BMW's Tom Coronel will start from the third row alongside the third Chevrolet Cruze of Alain Menu, who has struggled to trouble the top three thus far this weekend.Norbert Michelisz meanwhile edged out SUNRED's Michael Nykjaer to finish as top Independent in seventh, just over one second down on Muller. Franz Engstler was ninth in his Engstler BMW, ahead of Tiago Monteiro in the SUNRED SEAT.Race one grid:Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 1m33.712s 2. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo 1m34.215s + 0.503s 3. Rob Huff Chevrolet 1m34.290s + 0.578s 4. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT 1m34.519s + 0.807s 5. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m34.635s + 0.923s 6. Alain Menu Chevrolet 1m34.673s + 0.961s 7. Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW 1m34.884s + 1.172s 8. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT 1m35.260s + 1.548s 9. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m35.370s + 1.658s10. Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT 1m35.501s + 1.789s11. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet 1m35.633s (Q1)12. Stefano D'Aste Wiechers BMW 1m35.656s (Q1)13. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m35.724s (Q1)14. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 1m35.730s (Q1)15. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT 1m35.903s (Q1)16. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT 1m35.932s (Q1)17. Javier Villa Proteam BMW 1m36.071s (Q1)18. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet 1m36.657s (Q1)19. Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT 1m36.666s (Q1)20. Ibrahim Okyay Borusan BMW 1m38.113s (Q1)21. Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMW 1m41.754s (Q1)Race two grid:Pos Driver Team/Car 1. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 2. Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT 3. Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW 4. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT 5. Alain Menu Chevrolet 6. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT 7. Rob Huff Chevrolet 8. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 9. Yvan Muller Chevrolet10. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo11. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet12. Stefano D'Aste Wiechers BMW13. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW14. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW15. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT16. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT17. Javier Villa Proteam BMW18. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet19. Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT20. Ibrahim Okyay Borusan BMW21. Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMWRace one grid - Normal qualifying timesRace two grid - Q1 top 10 reversed then Q1 order from 11th