Qualification – Menu on pole in Macau… Yvan Muller 2nd

Swiss driver Alain Menu (Chevrolet) secured his 5th pole position of the season on Saturday.

In the final minutes of the qualifying session, Frenchman Yvan Muller seemed assured of the top position with a time of 2:31.395, but under the checkered flag, Menu stopped the clock at 2:31.209. Muller will therefore be second, with his SEAT Sport teammate, Gabriele Tarquini, right behind him on the grid on Sunday.

Augusto Farfus, in the running for the title, recorded the 4th best time (2:31.752) for BMW Team Germany, but his colleague Jörg Müller will have to start 15th. Andy Priaulx, co-leader of the championship with Yvan Muller, qualified in 12th place (2:32.685).

Nicola Larini will be 4th and will also have a shot at the world championship on Sunday. Jordi Gené and Rob Huff follow him on the grid in 6th and 7th positions. James Thompson, the last man in the title race, climbed to 8th place in the final minutes with a time of 2:32.140.

The session was interrupted almost immediately after André Couto, teammate of James Thompson at Alfa Romeo N.technology, hit the rail at the Teddy Yip corner on his first flying lap. “I brushed the wall with my front left wheel and that was enough to send me into the opposite wall,” he explained. At the end of the session, the N.technology team was unable to say if the car would be repaired in time for Sunday.

Tiago Monteiro and Alessandro Zanardi completed the top 10, while Duncan Huisman and Colin Turkington (Team Aviva) finished 16th and 18th.

Luca Rangoni secured pole position in the Independents category with a time of 2:33.278, placing him 17th on the grid. His rivals in the title race, Pierre-Yves Corthals and Stefano D’Aste, qualified 19th and 21st respectively.

Macau – Qualification

According to the WTCC