Alain Menu takes Pau pole position

Alain Menu will line up on pole for race one at Pau tomorrow; the second time for him in the season as he had already topped qualifying in Zandvoort. The Chevrolet man was battling with Yvan Muller for the duration of the session and eventually clocked a time of 1:21.930 which was 0.398 of a second faster than the SEAT man’s attempt. Augusto Farfus qualified third but due to a penalty incurred at Valencia he will line up 13th.

The dying seconds saw Farfus’ BMW 320si fly up in the air at the Foch bend and roll twice before landing upside-down. The young driver walked away from the incident with no injuries but his car was very badly damaged.

Tiago Monteiro achieved his best qualifying result: fourth with a time of 1:22.391 for SEAT Sport. Below him in fifth and sixth is a pair of Chevrolet cars: Nicola Larini’s (1:22.416) and Rob Huff’s (1:22.458). Larini’s Lacetti suffered problems in the late stages of the session and he had to abandon his car at Virage du Lycée.

Andy Priaulx qualified seventh, and with Farfus’ penalty, will line up as the best BMW.

Jordi Gené clocked a 1:22.591 which placed him 8th overall ahead of team-mate Gabriele Tarquini. Tarquini suffers the same penalty as Farfus following Valencia so the Italian will line up 19th.

Olivier Tielemans had a successful session despite straying from the track a couple of times at Foch. He qualified 11th overall for N.technology Alfa Romeo while his team-mate James Thompson was 13th fastest. Tom Coronel split the duo in 12th with a 1:22.948.

Debutant Anthony Beltoise accomplished a great lap to qualify 14th overall and the best independent competitor, stealing pole from Stefano D’Aste with only a few minutes to go in the session; a great start for the guest in the WTCC.