Muller on Donington pole

Date published : 16 Jul 2011 - 14:14:57

Yvan Muller secured pole position for Sunday's opening World Touring Car Championship race at Donington Park, leading a Chevrolet 1-2-3 in qualifying.The session started wet but became progressively drier, putting a premium on being out on the track at the right time. Muller had been in control for most of the second phase of qualifying, but briefly lost the top spot to his championship-leading team-mate Rob Huff before reclaiming it on his final flying lap. The result extends Chevrolet's pole streak to seven from seven rounds this year.Alain Menu was third-quickest of the Chevys to finish just ahead of Tiago Monteiro's SUNRED SEAT,while a superb performance from Colin Turkington was rewarded with fifth on the grid and first of the Independent cars in his Wiechers-Sport BMW.Darryl O'Young (bamboo Chevy), Franz Engstler (Engstler BMW), Tom Coronel (ROAL BMW), Javier Villa (Proteam BMW) and Michel Nykjaer (SUNRED SEAT) completed the top 10, although Villa faces a five-place grid penalty carried over from the previous round at Porto.Among those who lost out during the session was 2009 world champion Gabriele Tarquini, who experimented with running wets on the front and ran out of time to change back when it became clear that slicks were the way to go, costing him a place in the top 10.Race one grid:Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 1m38.470s 2. Rob Huff Chevrolet 1m38.551s + 0.081s 3. Alain Menu Chevrolet 1m38.794s + 0.324s 4. Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT 1m39.167s + 0.697s 5. Colin Turkington Wiechers BMW 1m39.332s + 0.862s 6. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet 1m39.471s + 1.001s 7. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m39.686s + 1.216s 8. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m39.966s + 1.496s 9. Javier Villa Proteam BMW 1m40.047s + 1.577s10. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT 1m40.152s + 1.682s11. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT 1m41.450s Q112. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 1m41.530s Q113. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT 1m41.557s Q114. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT 1m41.590s Q115. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m42.179s Q116. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet 1m42.576s Q117. Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT 1m42.871s Q118. Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW 1m45.720s Q119. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo 1m48.569s Q120. Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMW 1m55.478s Q1Race two grid:Pos Driver Team/Car 1. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 2. Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT 3. Javier Villa Proteam BMW 4. Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT 5. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 6. Colin Turkington Wiechers BMW 7. Darryl O'Young Bamboo Chevrolet 8. Alain Menu Chevrolet 9. Rob Huff Chevrolet10. Yvan Muller Chevrolet11. Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT12. Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW13. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT14. Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT15. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW16. Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet17. Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT18. Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW19. Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo20. Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMWRace one grid: Q2 top 10 and Q1 from 11thRace two grid: Q1 with top 10 reversed