Norbert Michelisz storms to Slovakia pole

Zengõ Motorsport driver Norbert Michelisz has claimed his first pole position in the World Touring Car Championship at the Slovakiaring, with the Lukoil SEATs of Aleksei Dudukalo and Gabriele Tarquini, with the top Chevrolet in sixth.

In Q1, it was Pepe Oriola that set the pace in the SUNRED SEAT León WTCC with James Nash close behind in the Arena Motorsport Ford Focus, both were faster than the three Chevrolet Cruzes of Yvan Muller, Rob Huff and Alain Menu.

Gabriele Tarquini had set the best first sector on his last flying lap as Tom Coronel, down in P13 and in the drop zone, was also on a better lap as the red flag was waved as Franz Engstler’s Liqui Moly Team Engstler spun into the gravel trap. That saw Coronel out of Q2 and Tom Chilton the beneficiary, as he was in 12th place and in the pits.

In Q2, Norbert Michelisz pulled out the best lap seen all day and the only driver to break the 2:13 barrier, going fastest of all in his BMW 320 TC, with Tiago Monteiro briefly in second in the SUNRED SR León 1.6T, before he was rapidly deposed by the slipstreaming trio of Aleksei Dudukalo, Gabriele Tarquini and James Nash.

With second, Dudukalo takes his best career grid position in the Lukoil Racing Team SEAT, whilst the Chevrolets were caught out, with Yvan Muller the best placed in sixth ahead of team-mate Rob Huff and Alain Menu in ninth.

This means for race two, Wiechers-Sport BMW driver Stefano D’Aste will start from pole with Menu alongside on the front row, which will be Chevrolet’s best starting position of the day.

The first race takes place at 14:20 CET tomorrow.