Photo: WTCC Media

Norbert Michelisz claims pole position at the Nürburgring

Honda’s Norbert Michelisz has taken pole position at the Nürburgring Nordschleife ahead of Volvo’s Nicky Catsburg and Citroën driver Rob Huff, with practice pace-setter Catsburg unable to challenge after suffering a vibration on his final run.

The Hungarian produced a stunning lap around the 25km circuit in the 40 minute session, which took place in much warmer conditions than this morning’s practice session, with the pace slower than practice this morning.

Michelisz’s time was 8:38.072, six-tenths of a second faster than Nicky Catsburg, with the Nürburgring expert having to back off in the final sector while he was set to improve, reporting a problem with his front right tyre.

Rob Huff, who had topped the Thursday morning test session, suffered a technical issue ahead of his final run on the Grand Prix loop, but was able to go around again and start another lap, taking third with a steady lap, 1.5 seconds from Michelisz and slotting ahead of championship leader Tiago Monteiro in the Honda.

Thed Björk was the second fastest of the Volvos in fifth, while team-mate Néstor Girolami was on a fast lap and was set to improve, before the team advised him to back off after he was safe in tenth, which would secure him pole position for the opening race on Saturday with the top ten reversed grid.

Tom Chilton was sixth in his Sébastien Loeb Racing-run Citroën ahead of ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet driver Tom Coronel, with the #25 SLR Citroën of Mehdi Bennani eighth, one ahead of the Campos Chevrolet of Esteban Guerrieri.

Honda’s Ryo Michigami just missed out on the top ten in the Honda, while Yann Ehrlacher qualified 12th in the repaired RC Motorsport Lada, with the 20-year-old Frenchman sporting a limp in the paddock since his crash in Free Practice 1 on Thursday evening.