Photo: WTCC Media

Yvan Muller takes pole position in Slovakiaring qualifying thriller

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Yvan Muller took pole position with a stunning Q3 lap in a thrilling qualifying session at Slovakiaring. The Frenchman came home ahead of Lada’s Nicky Catsburg by a blink of an eye, while Citroën team-mate José María López took third, two tenths off the pace. The double World Champion’s Q3 lap is however under investigation, which means the result is still sub-judice.

In Q1 Hugo Valente had set the fastest laptime in his Lada Vesta, despite having had an off earlier in the session which caused a red flag and a damaged splitter for the Frenchman. José María López also got into the gravel trap and left a lot of gravel on the track, which was cleaned up during the red flag period. The Argentinian came second in the session ahead of Honda’s Norbert Michelisz

Mehdi Bennani put his Citroën C-Elysée in fourth ahead of Yvan Muller, with Thed Bjork in sixth in the Polestar Cyan Racing S60. Nicky Catsburg was seventh for Lada ahead of team-mate Gabriele Tarquini, with Tom Chilton’s Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën in ninth ahead of Tiago Monteiro’s Honda.

At the end of the session John Filippi and Gregoire Demoustier both did not make it through the cut, with James Thompson also out in Q1 despite a strong pace in Free Practice. Tom Coronel and Ferenc Ficza also failed to make it to the following segment.

In Q2 things were much smoother, with Norbert Michelisz setting the fastest time ahead of Catsburg, López, Muller and Huff. Thed Bjork narrowly missed the top five, with Monteiro’s Honda and Tarquini’s Lada behind him. Mehdi Bennani will share the front row with Opening Race pole sitter Hugo Valente in his Lada Vesta TC1.

The final segment was thrilling as Huff set a reference time which was very close to his Q2 performance. Yvan Muller followed with a stunning lap which broke the 2:04 barrier by one tenth, with team-mate López not able to match the Frenchman.

Nicky Catsburg also did a very good lap, but missed pole position for 4 hundredths as Michelisz was not able to repeat his outstanding Q2 performance and ended up fourth, just ahead of Huff.