ROUNDS 17 & 18 – OSCHERSLEBEN
QUALIFYING REPORT
TARQUINI BEATS COLAK IN CRAZY QUALIFYING
Gabriele Tarquini took pole by almost two seconds in the most unpredictable qualifying session in WTCC history. Independent driver Marin Colak from Croatia will line up second followed by Rickard Rydell. Jaap van Lagen qualified fourth giving LADA Sport their best result so far.
The weather played havoc with the field and as the track dried in the dying seconds of Q2 it was still all to play for.
Q1 – Mother nature played a large part in determining the grid for tomorrow. As the green flag signalled the start of Q1 rain began to fall. It then became a battle against time to clock a competitive lap before all grip was lost. With rain falling heavily the track soon turned into a skid-pan and the entire field returned to the pits with 11 minutes left on the clock.
Some key players in the championship fight lost out in the conditions including Yvan Muller and Andy Priaulx, despite venturing back out to try their luck when it was too late.
Just as a few of the well known members of the WTCC missed out, there were a couple of surprise names that did make the cut. Marin Colak and Jaap van Lagen landed into their first ever Q2.
Q2 – With the track drying the name at the top of the timesheet was different every few seconds. With the exception of the three BMWs (Müller, Farfus and Zanardi) all the drivers‘ best times came from their last laps. Tarquini’s was best of all (1:39.866) followed by Colak (1:41.692), Rydell (1:42.192) and van Lagen from LADA Sport (1:42.307). A duo of Chevrolets followed in the form of Larini and Huff, while Coronel took seventh place. Müller, Farfus and Zanardi completed the top ten in that order.