There will be a BMW, a SEAT and an Alfa Romeo occupying the top three spots on the grid for the start of the FIA WTCC third round which is being held at Magny-Cours tomorrow.

It was a very active qualifying session with top positions constantly changing between different drivers. Jörg Müller used the cooling track temperature to his advantage to set the fastest time of 1:49.486 on his last lap. He claimed the second consecutive pole of the season for Team BMW Deutschland, coming after Dirk Müller’s fastest qualifying time in Monza, but also his own second pole at Magny-Cours, considering last year’s FIA European Touring Car Championship event.

Rickard Rydell and Augusto Farfus qualified second and third behind him. In fact, the top three qualifying times were only separated by 0.378 seconds and just 0.719 covers the difference between the top nine times. Gaps were so close that Farfus beat Andy Priaulx for third position by only 0.001 seconds.

Alain Menu qualified as the fastest of the three Chevrolet Lacetti cars and will start the race from 15th position. Brilliant progress for the RML-built machine that reduced the gap from pole to 1.9 seconds. Due to engine changes earlier in the day, Ford drivers Klenke and Jäger will be starting from 33rd and 31st positions respectively.
 

Young Finn, Valle Mäkelä, qualified as the fastest of the Independent drivers, 12th overall. The GR Asia driver is also competing in the Italian Superturismo and set the best qualifying time in this field. Zanardi, who is currently leading the Italian championship, stopped on the track with four minutes remaining, due to a gearbox problem, which prevented him to improve his 14th position.

On his first outing in the FIA WTCC, Frank Diefenbacher, crashed into the barriers at the end of the qualifying session substantially damaging his RS-Line IPZ Racing Ford Focus. The driver was then taken to Nevers hospital for a check up.

“Every time we go to a track we aim to get pole position - this time it was particularly hard," commented Augusto Farfus, the fastest of the Alfa Romeo drivers. "We have done a great job so far this weekend, so in the race I hope to overtake Rickard and Jörg and fight for the win. The top drivers all achieved very close times so they are set to be a couple of tight races.”