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Muller Takes Pole Position in the Cold in Oschersleben

Huff third-fastest, Menu sixth and best-placed Cruze for Race 2

2011-07-30

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Yvan Muller took his third pole position of the season today in Oschersleben. The Frenchman dominated the decisive qualifying session, beating all his rivals by a half-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 position 5, while Huff and Muller will do it from P7 and P9, respectively.

Unusually cold weather ‘graced’ the German track today, impacting significantly on track conditions. According to weather forecasts, the rain may invite itself tomorrow for the two races. This, and the great progress made by the competition, may be the promise of an exciting and surprising race day tomorrow.

·         QUOTES

Yvan Muller (1^st) : «I am very happy with this pole position, my performance and the car behaviour. 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 any mistake. I tried to avoid precisely that and pushed 101 %, and it worked. We will see what happens tomorrow. I will have the Volvo next to me in the first row, which is unusual but not a surprise, as they are progressing very quickly.”

Rob Huff (3^rd): “It was a good session, although not perfect. I did some small mistakes, and I also had some vibrations in the car. The track was dry but had very little grip, as it was very cold, so it felt almost like driving on the wet. This said, Yvan posted an amazing lap time, I don’t think anyone could beat that today, he really deserves the pole.”

Alain Menu (6^th): “Not the greatest qualifying session for me. As we always try to keep some distance between the three Cruzes, I let Yvan and Rob go at the start of Q2, but then was caught in the traffic of all other car and couldn’t warm up my tires correctly. The car had too much understeering, so I was losing time throughout the lap and it also locked wheels at the first corner braking. Tomorrow everything may be different, as they forecast rain.”

Eric Nève: “It’s the eighth pole in eight events, so we are definitely very happy! But as you can see, we have four different manufacturers in the first five today, which means that our competitors are doing an excellent work and we congratulate them for that. The championship is becoming more and more competitive, which is excellent news!”

OSCHERSLEBEN QUALIFYING RESULTS (RACE 1 GRID)

1. Y Muller                Chevrolet Cruze                    1m33s712

2. R Dahlgren            Volvo C30                               + 0s503
3. R Huff                   Chevrolet Cruze                    + 0s578

4. G Tarquini             SEAT SR León 1.6T               + 0s807

5. T Coronel              BMW 320 TC                          + 0s923

6. A Menu                 Chevrolet Cruze                    + 0s961

ZOLDER GRID POSITIONS – RACE 2

1. F Engstler              BMW 320 TC                          (1m35s621)

2. T Monteiro SEAT SR León 1.6T               (1m35s610)

3. N michelisz           BMW 320 TC                          (1m35s556)

4. M Nykjaer                         SEAT SR León 1.6T               (1m35s522)

5. A Menu                 Chevrolet Cruze                    (1m35s459)

7. R Huff                   Chevrolet Cruze                    (1m35s417)

9. Y Muller                Chevrolet Cruze                    (1m35s075)