Alfa Romeo drivers' James Thompson and Augusto Farfus will start from the front row in tomorrow's opening FIA WTCC race at Oschersleben. The pair had finished 2nd and 3rd to BMW's Jorg Muller after a very tight qualifying session, but a suspended penalty for the German pilot sees him demoted 10 grid positions, moving the Alfa Romeo's pilot up to the front.

Of the other two Alfa Romeo Racing Team drivers' Gabriele Tarquini qualified in fifth place (he will move up a place to start 4th), while the in-form, title-chasing Fabrizio Giovanardi only set 12th fastest time (but will start from 11th), meaning that the former FIA ETCC Champion will be looking to position himself will in the opening race for take advantage of race two's reverse grid.

PRACTICE 1

Michael Funke was the surprise name that shot to the top of the timesheet at the start of first free practice and it remained there for the entire session. The Ford Hotfiel Sport driver set a time of 1:33.062 in his Ford Focus within the first ten minutes and none of his competitors were able to better it. “I’m very happy, but not surprised, because we have tested a lot here. I know that if everything goes right in qualifying I can lap in the low 1:32s. I don’t know if this will be enough to make the front row, but it should be for a top position.”

The BMW cars of Jörg Müller and Andy Priaulx were second and third fastest, clocking times 0.195 and 0.332 slower than of Funke. Another unexpected outcome was that new Team Oreca Playstation driver, Stéphane Ortelli was the quickest of the SEAT pack with the 4th best time overall (1:33.415), which he set on his last lap. Jordi Gené was right behind him in 5th spot which is an encouraging start for the new SEAT León. Gabriele Tarquini was 0.461 of a second off the top time, making him 6th overall and the fastest Alfa Romeo driver. Chevrolet’s best lap came from Alain Menu who clocked a 1:34.454 to take 17th place. Eric Hélary, who is driving the Peugeot this weekend was 20th overall. The best of the independent category was Marc Hennerici with the 15th best time. In fact, the top 15 times were within just one second of each other.

PRACTICE 2

The weekend really got to a great start for Ford and Michael Funke as they were once again, the quickest of the FIA WTCC field. With a time of 1:33.080, he was nearly half a second faster than anyone else. Alfa Romeo’s Gabriele Tarquini set the second best time with six minutes remaining, while Jörg Müller was third in his BMW.
 

SEAT were also among the top times with Jordi Gené completing the fourth fastest lap, 0.749 of a second off the lead pace in the new León. A dirty track meant that many drivers spun off the track, Alessandro Zanardi being one of them. The BMW Team Italy-Spain man continued and in the late stages clocked a time of 1:34.230 to shoot to 6th. Behind him with the 7th best time overall and the fastest of the independent drivers was Stefano D’Aste. Chevrolet drivers Robert Huff and Alain Menu posted their best lap times as the session drew to an end, claiming 9th and 11th spots respectively – a good improvement on this morning’s results. Peugeot still appear to have difficulties finding the pace as Eric Hélary’s best time was the 25th quickest overall.

QUALIFYING

In a very close qualifying session Jörg Müller set the best time and a new lap record of 1:31.772. However, due to the implementation of a suspended penalty he incurred at Spa, he will begin Race 1 from 11th on the gird. This gives pole position to James Thompson of Alfa Romeo while his team-mate and last year’s pole occupier, Augusto Farfus joins him on the front row, their times were just 0.154 and 0.177 of a second off that of Jörg’s.

Andy Priaulx ensured it wasn’t to be an Alfa Romeo 1-2-3 start tomorrow by using his last lap to set a time of 1:32.053. This secures him 3rd position on the grid at the wheel of his BMW Team UK car. Gabriele Tarquini will be right behind him in 4th place. SEAT cars occupy 5th, 6th and 7th positions with Rickard Rydell, Stéphane Ortelli and Peter Terting setting times within 0.220 seconds of each other. Jordi Gené claimed 9th spot at the wheel of the new León, with the BMW of Dirk Müller in 8th position splitting the SEAT squad. Despite good performances in practice, Michael Funke was unable to make the top-ten in qualifying and will start the race 16th on the grid. His Ford Hotfiel Sport team-mate Thomas Klenke had much more success and his time of 1:32.717 means a 10th place start – the best yet for the Ford team. Alain Menu was the fastest of the Chevrolets, 0.992 of a second off Jörg’s pace so he will begin the race from 13th. The Peugeot 407 driven by Eric Hélary did not manage to set a competitive time, resulting in position 27 on the grid. Proteam Motorsport’s Giuseppe Cirò completed the best lap of the independent field and was 17th fastest overall.