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 Gené 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 Hernández crashed at Turn 7 and pulled out, while James Thompson clipped the wall and rejoined. As the session went on Oscar Nogués 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 Gené had managed to clock a provisional fastest lap in the early stages.
Nogués 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.
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