Liuzzi takes last gasp pole ahead of Michelisz

Vitantonio Liuzzi took pole at the Hungaroring in a closely fought qualifying session. The Italian emerged as the quickest with just one minute to go, ahead of Norbert Michelisz and Gianni Morbidelli.

Halfway through the session, Audi Sport Italia’s Morbidelli had the lead and looked like he could hold onto it to take pole, but with just four minutes to go Michelisz set the crowd on fire by taking pole in the Scuderia Giudici BMW. However, a perfect lap almost under the chequered flag meant Liuzzi snatched pole for CAAL Racing in his Mercedes AMG C63, four tenths clear of the Hungarian.

Thomas Schoffler had a positive session, clocking the fourth best time in the Audi Sport Italia RS4, just one tenth shy of team-mate Morbidelli. The German’s position was under threat by Thomas Biagi, who missed it by less than two hundredths of a second and had to settle for fifth.

Series newcomer Christian Klien claimed sixth in the Swiss Team Maserati Quattroporte ahead of championship leader Johan Kristoffersson in the Audi, who will start alongside BMW Team Dinamic’s Stefano Gabellini.

Camilo Zurcher and Max Pigoli rounded out the top ten in their Romeo Ferraris Mercedes and Ferlito Motors Jaguar respectively, whereas recent race winners Francesco Sini and Andrea Larini both endured difficult sessions and ended up in eleventh and twelfth.

The high temperatures are playing havoc with the car setups, and most of the teams elected not to do too many runs during qualifying to save the tyres.

The first race will start tomorrow at 11.15 CET.