Photo: WTCC Media

José María López takes close-fought pole position in China

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José María López took his seventh pole from ten races in the 2016 WTCC Season at the Shanghai International Circuit, outqualifying Lada Sport’s Nicky Catsburg by just under two-tenths of a second, helping Citroën to secure their third manufacturers’ title on Saturday.

López threw down the gauntlet in each part of qualifying, topping the first part ahead of Nicky Catsburg and Volvo’s Fredrik Ekblom, with Catsburg soon to emerge as the Argentinian’s closest rival.

There was a surprise in the first segment as Honda struggled, with both Tiago Monteiro and Rob Huff failing to make the cut for Q2, with Monteiro qualifying down in 13th and Huff 14th, where they will be forced to start both races tomorrow.

López then blasted out a time of 1:49.680 in Q2, which saw him safely through to the top-five shootout, while most drivers’ first run was their best, with the three Chevrolets ending up propping up the bottom of the time sheets, with Campos Racing’s John Filippi the fastest of the three, therefore tenth and securing pole position for the reversed grid opening race, while Tom Coronel and James Thompson just missed the cut.

Nicky Catsburg made a last-minute improvement to jump to fifth, knocking Lada team-mate out of the top five, which would prove vital, as the Dutchman went on to set a competitive time of 1:49.500 in the shootout, which couldn’t be beaten by the three cars which followed him, the two Citroëns of Yvan Muller and Mehdi Bennani, or the Volvo of Thed Björk.

Catsburg’s time was however beaten by López, who racked up an incredible seventh pole of the season, finding all the time in the final sector after being a fraction behind the Lada Vesta in sectors one and two.

López will start the main race from pole ahead of Catsburg, with Muller third, Bennani fourth and the top qualifying independent driver, with Björk completing the top five for Volvo.

López’s pole, with Muller picking up three points for third mean Citroën have now secured their third manufacturers’ championship, after they outscored Honda by eight points, and are now 216 points ahead with just 191 points available from the remaining rounds, including the MAC3 time trial event which follows qualifying.