Muller earns his first pole of 2011

Date published : 18 Jun 2011 - 13:26:58

Yvan Muller will start tomorrow's first World Touring Car Championship race from pole position after a dominant display at Brno.In a session where rain threatened throughout but failed to materialise, Muller's early lap time of 2m08.884s - the fastest WTCC lap so far this weekend - was never to be beaten, and the reigning champion went on to secure his first pole position of the season."So far, always in the top 10!" Muller told AUTOSPORT. "It's my first pole of the season, but it was tough. It was about time. I was very close to getting pole in Zolder but I made a mistake, which cost me pole. Here I just drove the car properly."We did a perfect job. I'm very pleased with that. So that's the way we have to do the rest of the season. Tomorrow I'll be flat out."His Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff put a nightmare Hungaroring qualifying session behind him to secure the second place, but was left ruing a lost opportunity in the first half of qualifying.Lying sixth, which would have placed him on the second row for the reversed grid race two, the championship leader went on to set a lap four tenths faster than his previous attempt, vaulting him to second. The Briton will therefore start race two from ninth.ROAL Motorsport's Tom Coronel was a superb third fastest in his BMW, just pipping Chevrolet's Alain Menu. The Hungaroring race winner endured a problematic session. After heading for pit road following his first out-lap, Menu rejoined the session very late on, going on to secure fourth place in the dying seconds.Norbert Michelisz was the lead independent driver in fifth for Zengo Dension Motorsport, just ahead of an increasingly competitive Robert Dahlgren for Polestar Racing, who was truly feeling the benefits of his Volvo's new 1.6.turbo engine.Kristian Poulsen completed a solid day's work for Engstler in seventh, while SUNRED's Gabriele Tarquini continued development of his new 1.6 turbo engine by setting the eighth fastest time. Fellow SEAT runner Tiago Monteiro endured another nightmare session, and will start from the back row.Bamboo Engineering's Darryl O'Young secured ninth on the grid just ahead of Franz Engstler, who will start the reversed grid race two from pole position.Race one grid:Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 2m08.884s 2. Rob Huff Chevrolet 2m09.256s + 0.372s 3. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 2m09.717s + 0.833s 4. Alain Menu Chevrolet 2m09.830s + 0.946s 5. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Dension BMW 2m09.921s + 1.037s 6. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo 2m09.998s + 1.114s 7. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 2m10.326s + 1.442s 8. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT 2m10.491s + 1.607s 9. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet 2m10.559s + 1.675s10. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 2m11.339s + 2.455s11. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT 2m10.959s (Q1)12. Javier Villa Proteam BMW 2m11.285s (Q1)13. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 2m11.410s (Q1)14. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT 2m11.687s (Q1)15. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet 2m11.832s (Q1)16. Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT 2m11.899s (Q1)17. Urs Sonderegger Wiechers BMW 2m17.051s (Q1)18. Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT 2m19.531s (Q1)19. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEATRace two grid:Pos Driver Team/Car 1. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 2. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 3. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT 4. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet 5. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Dension BMW 6. Alain Menu Chevrolet 7. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 8. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 9. Rob Huff Chevrolet10. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo11. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT12. Javier Villa Proteam BMW13. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW14. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT15. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet16. Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT17. Urs Sonderegger Wiechers BMW18. Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT19. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEATRace one grid: Q2 top 10, Q1 times from 11thRace two grid: Q1 top 10 reversed then Q1 times from 11th