Huff third fastest, Menu sixth and best placed Cruze for Race 2
Yvan Muller took his third pole position of the season Saturday in Oschersleben. The Frenchman dominated the decisive qualifying session, beating all his rivals by a half a second. Rob Huff qualified third and will start from the second row in Race 1, while Alain Menu will start from row 3, after posting the sixth best time.
The Swiss will be the best placed Chevrolet driver on the grid of Race 2, starting from P5, while Huff and Muller will line up in P7 and P9, respectively. Unusually cold weather ‘graced’ the German track today, impacting significantly on track conditions. According to weather forecasts, the rain may return tomorrow for the two races.This, and the great progress made by the competition, may well lead to an exciting and surprising race day tomorrow.
• QUOTESYvan Muller (1st): «I am very happy with this pole position, my performance and the car’sbehaviour. Track conditions were very peculiar, as the track was really very cold. As always,Oschersleben proved to be a challenging track, where it is difficult not to make anymistakes. I tried to avoid precisely that and pushed 101 %, and it worked. We will see whathappens tomorrow. I will have the Volvo next to me in the first row, which is unusual but nota surprise, as they are progressing very quickly.”
Rob Huff (3rd): “It was a good session, although not perfect. I made some small mistakes,and I also had some vibrations in the car. The track was dry but had very little grip, as itwas very cold, so it felt almost like driving on the wet. This said, Yvan posted an amazinglap time, I don’t think anyone could beat that today, he really deserves the pole.”
Alain Menu (6th): “Not the greatest qualifying session for me. As we always try to keepsome distance between the three Cruzes, I let Yvan and Rob go at the start of Q2, but thenwas caught in the traffic of all other car and couldn’t warm up my tires correctly. The carhad too much under steering, so I was losing time throughout the lap and it also lockedwheels at the first corner braking. Tomorrow everything may be different, as they forecastrain.”
Eric Nève: “It’s the eighth pole in eight events, so we are definitely very happy! But as youcan see, we have four different manufacturers in the first five today, which means that ourcompetitors are doing an excellent work and we congratulate them for that. Thechampionship is becoming more and more competitive, which is excellent news!”
