Moscow Raceway, Qualifying: Lopez beats Tarquini to the pole

Honda was so close...

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7 June 2014 - 14:05
Moscow Raceway, Qualifying: Lopez (…)

Never before this season, Honda was so close to the ever-dominant Citroën Armada.

For the whole day at the Moscow Raceway, in different track conditions, the Civic cars of Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro competed on equal terms with the French machines.

Two out of four Citroën drivers dropped off after Q2, and quite unexpectedly one of them was Yvan Muller, kicked off by Monteiro’s last-gasp attempt.

After Sébastien Loeb was not able to be faster than Monteiro in Q3, and after Tarquini posted a brilliant lap time, López salvaged the day for Citroën with a perfect lap. The fastest of the day.

In tomorrow’s Race 1 the current championship leader is now due to face strong opposition from the Honda duo of Tarquini and Monteiro. While the top-ten reverse grid for Race 2 will see Hugo Valente and Ma Qing Hua sharing the front row.

The most disappointed drivers today were Tom Coronel and Gianni Morbidelli who were both eliminated after Q1, while LADA Sport’s dream of making to Q2 at least with one car vanished when Rob Huff was kicked off by Valente.

Franz Engstler took once again the pole among the TC2T cars, improving his last year’s time by four tenths.

Qualifying 1

The track was still partially wet after a shower when the green light gave the drivers the go-ahead.

Yvan Muller posted a first provisional fastest lap of 1:39.953; after setting an excellent time in the first sector, Gianni Morbidelli went wide at Turn 7 spoiling his lap and damaging the front splitter that eventually prevented him to make the top-12.

Norbert Michelisz improved the mark to 1:39.848. With five minutes left, the LADA cars of Rob Huff, Mikhail Kozlovskiy and James Thompson were all inside the top-12, while Tiago Monteiro was 13th.

Tom Chilton jumped on top with a lap of 1:39.443, but he was soon ousted by Monteiro’s 1:39.426. However, Gabriele Tarquini set the fastest lap for good, the first to drive under the 1:39. Mark (1:38.754).

In the last seconds, Hugo Valente kicked off the last of the LADA drivers (Huff), and René Münnich eliminated Tom Coronel.

The following drivers made it to Q2: Tarquini, Monteiro, Chilton, López, Michelisz, Valente, Muller Bennani, Loeb, Münnich, Ma and Borković.

Qualifying 2

On the drying track, a few drivers made mistakes, including Chilton, Bennani, Ma, Valente and Muller who spun on his first attempt at T3. An error that proved crucial as he eventually missed the cut for Q3.

Tarquini posted a provisional fastest lap of 1:38.872 that was beaten by López’s 1:38.832; Loeb (1:39.111) and Chilton (1:39.419) secured third and fourth places, while Monteiro stopped the watch at 1:39.423 under the chequered flag, kicking Muller off.

Qualifying 3

Monteiro took the track first and posted a very promising lap of 1:39.166 that Chilton (1:39.698) and Loeb (1:39.580) were not able to better.

Tarquini followed and jumped on top with a lap of 1:38.877. However his dreams of pole position were shattered when López completed his lap in 1:38.651.

Pos. Driver Car Q1 time Q2 time Q3 time
1 José Maria LOPEZ Citroen C-Elysee WTCC 1:39.560 1:38.832 1:38.651
2 Gabriele TARQUINI Honda Civic WTCC 1:38.754 1:38.872 1:38.877
3 Tiago MONTEIRO Honda Civic WTCC 1:39.426 1:39.423 1:39.166
4 Sébastien LOEB Citroen C-Elysee WTCC 1:40.118 1:39.111 1:39.580
5 Tom CHILTON Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 1:39.443 1:39.419 1:39.698
---------- -------- -------- -------- ---------
6 Yvan MULLER Citroen C-Elysee WTCC 1:39.953 1:39.575
7 Mehdi BENNANI Honda Civic WTCC 1:40.028 1:39.715
8 Norbert MICHELISZ Honda Civic WTCC 1:39.848 1:40.001
9 Qing Hua MA Citroen C-Elysee WTCC 1:40.280 1:40.092
10 Hugo VALENTE Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 1:39.914 1:40.312
11 René MUNNICH Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 1:40.240 1:40.368
12 Dusan BORKOVIC Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 1:40.288 -:—.---
---------- -------- -------- -------- ---------
13 Tom CORONEL Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 1:40.327
14 Rob HUFF LADA Granta 1.6T 1:40.639
15 Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY LADA Granta 1.6T 1:40.653
16 James THOMPSON LADA Granta 1.6T 1:40.655
17 Gianni MORBIDELLI Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 1:42.091
18 Franz ENGSTLER BMW E90 320 TC 1:44.011
19 Pasquale DI SABATINO BMW E90 320 TC 1:44.229
20 John FILIPPI SEAT Leon WTCC 1:46.467
21 Nikita MISIULIA Seat Leon WTCC 1:46.498

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