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 |