Citroën Total team perfectly mastered FIA WTCC qualifying on the streets of Vila Real.
– Very comfortable on this circuit, José María López took his fourth pole position of the season. The reigning World Champion will share row one with Sébastien Loeb.
– The two Citroën C-Elysée WTCCs of Ma Qing Hua and Yvan Muller will share the front row in race 2.
– The two Portuguese rounds of the FIA WTCC will held on Sunday at 11h45 and 17h15.
Right from opening free-practice on Friday, the Citroën drivers were on excellent form. José María López set best time, before returning on Saturday for a repeat performance during the third and final session. Yvan Muller was also doing the business with fastest lap to start the day. Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb and Ma Qing Hua were comfortably in the top five.
Qualifying began in the afternoon, with Q1 scheduled for 30 minutes as is the case on all street circuits. Just before the mid-way point of the session, Sébastien Loeb was the first driver to lap under two-minutes. A few seconds later, the session was interrupted with a red flag…to allow marshals to retrieve the fan that was left attached to the radiator but which then came off Yvan Muller’s car! When the action resumed, Pechito López moved to the top of the order, while Yvan Muller had to then battle to enter the top 12. Despite a strong vibration on his car, the four-time World Champion posted the seventh best time and joined his team mates for Q2.
Red flags were also shown during the second half of qualifying. This time it was due to the off-circuit excursion of Nestor Girolami. Once again, López and Loeb were quickest. With times in the 1:59 range, the Argentinean and Frenchman won their entry to Q3. Still confronted with the same issues, Yvan Muller had to settle for 9th place on the starting grid ahead of Ma Qing Hua. Failing to advance to Q3, the two drivers assured an all Citroën front row for race 2!
Heading on to the track after Valente, Michelisz and Tarquini, Sébastien Loeb set fastest provisional time, with a 3/10th of a second gap. But when José María López went for his fast lap, all the sectors were a flash of violet, synonymous with the fastest absolute time. In 1:58.515, Pechito took the pole for a half-second from his team mate!
WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY
José María López: “This perfect lap wasn’t just mine it was also my engineers and my mechanics! They all worked very hard for this. I was a little lucky, especially in Q2 when I was able to put in a time before the red flag. This gave me confidence and I was in a position to score a few point on Yvan in the championship! My lap in Q3 was very clean, with no errors, and I was surprised when I saw my time! I am pleased to take the pole position on such a special circuit!”
Sébastien Loeb: “I made a few mistakes in Q3, without a doubt in wanting to attack a little too much. When you are in a fight for tenths of a second, you can’t afford to make a mistake! I didn’t put in a perfect lap, but this second place isn’t a bad result. Tomorrow, the start will be particularly difficult to manage. My position is situated in a place that we don’t drive on, it will be dirty and slippery and I’ll have to avoid spinning the wheels too much.”
Yvan Muller: “I wasn’t lucky in this session. Right from the start of Q1 I felt a big vibration in the middle of my first flying lap. I got through it the best I could, but I was forced to use a second set of new tyres. I was held up in traffic, but I managed to finish in the top 12. The problem persisted in Q2, but my first attempt was aborted with the red flag. I then manage to put in a time that will put me in a favourable position for race 2. My objective will be to finish race 1 without a problem in order to aim for victory in race 2…”
Ma Qing Hua: “We did a good job throughout all three free-practice sessions. At the start of Q2, we saw that it would be hard to finish in the top five and we switched to the objective of aiming for tenth place to make the most of the reversed grid for race 2. It is never easy to attain this objective, because the gaps are small and it isn’t easy to adapt one’s pace to obtain a precise time. My engineers gave my great advice and everything went like we wanted it to.”
CLASSIFICATION
1. José María López (Citroën C-Elysée WTCC)2. Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C-Elysée WTCC) 3. Hugo Valente (Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1) 4. Norbert Michelisz (Honda Civic WTCC) 5. Gabriele Tarquini (Honda Civic WTCC) 6. Tiago Monteiro (Honda Civic WTCC) 7. Nick Catsburg (Lada Vesta WTCC) 8. Jaap van Lagen (Lada Vesta WTCC)9. Yvan Muller (Citroën C-Elysée WTCC)10. Ma Qing Hua (Citroën C-Elysée WTCC)
