WTCC

Huff Secures Pole Position In Belgium

2 Mins read

Rob Huff has taken pole position for the World Touring Car Championship Race of Belgium at Zolder, giving the Chevrolet driver two poles from two qualifying sessions in 2011.

The Briton topped the Q2 session on his first flying lap, and remained in P1 until the checkered flag. Teammate Alain Menu took second place on his final attempt, knocking SUNRED SEAT driver Gabriele Tarquini off the front row and down into third place. Yvan Muller was left down in fourth place after running wide and then (literally) flying across the chicane on his final attempt.

Tiago Monteiro was fifth in his SEAT, with Kristian Poulsen sixth as the top Yokohama Trophy runner in his Engstler BMW. Norbert Michelisz qualified seventh for his first race in a BMW, just ahead of BMW veteran Franz Engstler. Fredy Barth was ninth in his SEAT, with Mehdi Bennani rounding out the top ten.

In the Q1 session, where the grid for Race 2 is determined by reversing the top ten, Barth ended up tenth and therefore on pole for Race 2. Joining him on the front row will be Engstler, with Tarquini and Michelisz sharing the second row. The Chevrolets of Huff, Menu and Muller will fill positions five to seven, with Bennani, Poulsen and Monteiro rounding out the top ten – the Portuguese racer topping the Q1 session for the second time in a row.

Tom Coronel was the biggest casualty of the Q1 session, ending 11th. The Dutchman will be forced to start both races from that position at his 'home' circuit. After running in the top ten throughout free practice in his first weekend with the Chevrolet Cruze, Darryl O'Young could only manage 14th place.

The Q1 session was interrupted by a red flag early on, caused by Michel Nykjaer, who hit the wall at the Villeneuve chicane. The Dane had shown great promise by being the closest man to the Chevrolets in free practice, but will now be forced to start both races from towards the back of the grid. Javier Villa did not set a time due to turbo issues in his Proteam BMW.

Qualifying 2 times:

Pos Cl Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:38.458
2 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:38.598 0.140
3 Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 1:38.723 0.265
4 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:38.738 0.280
5 Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 1:38.907 0.449
6 Y Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 320 TC 1:39.398 0.940
7 Y Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW 320 TC 1:39.450 0.992
8 Y Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 320 TC 1:39.962 1.504
9 Y Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 1:40.015 1.557
10 Y Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 320 TC 1:40.438 1.980

Qualifying 1 times:

Pos Cl Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Tiago Monteiro SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 1:38.952
2 Y Kristian Poulsen Engstler BMW 320 TC 1:39.293 0.341
3 Y Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 320 TC 1:39.328 0.376
4 Yvan Muller Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:39.365 0.413
5 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:39.367 0.415
6 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:39.373 0.421
7 Y Norbert Michelisz Zengo BMW 320 TC 1:39.417 0.465
8 Gabriele Tarquini SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 1:39.493 0.541
9 Y Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 320 TC 1:39.583 0.631
10 Y Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 1:39.638 0.686
11 Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 320 TC 1:39.680 0.728
12 Y Pepe Oriola SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 1:39.780 0.828
13 Robert Dahlgren Polestar Volvo C30 1:39.807 0.855
14 Y Darryl O’Young Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:39.931 0.979
15 Y Aleksei Dudukalo SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI 1:40.110 1.158
16 Y Marchy Lee KK BMW 320 TC 1:40.406 1.454
17 Y Yukinori Taniguchi Bamboo Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 1:41.712 2.760
18 Y Urs Sonderegger Wiechers BMW 320 TC 1:43.537 4.585
19 Y Fabio Fabiani Proteam BMW 320si 1:44.820 5.868
20 Y Michel Nykjaer SUNRED SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI
21 Y Javier Villa Proteam BMW 320 TC
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About author
Peter joined the TCF team in September 2010 and covers GP2 and GP3 along with WTCC and Formula Two. You can find him on twitter at @PeteAllen_
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