Muller takes pole in Austria as whole field misses last lap chance

Yvan Muller has taken pole position in one of the most bizarre qualifying sessions in the history of the WTCC, with all 12 cars taking to the track for one final run but not making it around before the chequered flag.

Yvan Muller’s time of 1:25.756 set on his first run in Q2 was enough to grab the Frenchman his second consecutive pole at the Salzburgring, whilst RML team-mate Tom Chilton will line-up in second place and Rob Huff in the Münnich Motorsport SEAT third.
Jockeying for position for the slipstream was the story of Q1, with cars backing off in the final turns which saw contact take place twice in the session, with first Pepe Oriola’s SEAT running into the back of Charles Ng’s Engstler Motorsport BMW, and then later Tom Coronel’s ROAL BMW running over the back of Hugo Valente’s Campos Racing SEAT.

Gabriele Tarquini left it to the last minute to set a time that would get him into Q2, just outside the top 12 as the session was ending in 13th. The Italian was one second down on Chilton’s Q1 pace setting time in sector two, but managed to make up the difference in the final sector to ensure he made it into the second part of qualifying.

In Q2, 11 of the 12 cars went out with Tom Coronel electing to stay in the pits. With all of the cars trying to gain the best slipstream, and Rob Huff positioning himself behind the two RML Chevrolets of Muller and Chilton, Muller set what would become the pole position time of 1:25.756 with Chilton second and Huff third.

For the second run, Tom Chilton led the pack out of the pits and Tom Coronel took to the track, but Chilton held the pack up at a snail’s pace knowing that he would not be able to improve him time at the head of the pack and admitted afterwards that he was just trying to see if no one passed him.

At the clock counted down it became evident that the whole field would not be able to start a fast lap before the chequered flag waved, at this point Tom Coronel bolted around the outside of the other cars to try and make the flag but failed, and crashed out on what effectively was now his in-lap. The Dutchman will line-up 12th for both of tomorrow’s races.

Alex MacDowall was the fastest independent in fourth, with Michel Nykjaer fifth fastest in the Nika Racing Chevrolet.

Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro led the Honda charge in sixth and seventh, with Pepe Oriola’s Tuenti Racing SEAT eighth.

Norbert Michelisz was ninth for Zengõ Motorsport and will line up in second for the reversed grid race, whilst James Nash will start from pole position on the reversed grid and tenth for race one.