Alfa Romeo stormed the FIA World Touring Car Championship qualifying session, held in Istanbul this afternoon, to claim both the front rows on tomorrow’s grid. Gabriele Tarquini will be on pole position for the first ever WTCC race in Turkey, team mate James Thompson joins him on the front row, while Augusto Farfus and Fabrizio Giovanardi will line up right behind.

Immediately had the session kicked off and Thompson went to the top of the time sheet with a 2:05.128 lap - faster than any of the times posted in the practice sessions. After ten minutes however, it was Farfus’ turn to occupy the top spot before, nine minutes later, Tarquini set a fantastic 2:04.525. It is incredibly close at the top as all the Alfas are within just half a second of each other. Behind the red pack there are two SEAT cars. Stéphane Ortelli achieved a time of 2:05.118 to take fifth place, while Peter Terting came through towards the end of the session to post the sixth best time. The fastest of the BMW drivers was Andy Priaulx who clocked the 7th quickest time on his penultimate lap. Behind the Briton sits another SEAT duo in the form of Jordi Gené and Rickard Rydell with 8th and 9th grid spots. Championship leader Dirk Müller posted the 10th fastest lap, while his team-mate Jörg, 14th fastest, had his times disallowed for not stopping at the weighing scales.

The bid to be the best independent was fought between Carl Rosenblad and Adriano De Micheli. During the session both drivers made it into the top ten but it was De Micheli of JAS Motorsport who was eventually quicker. With just 2 minutes remaining he completed a lap in a brilliant 2:05.644 making him 11th overall on the starting grid. 12th position went to Nicola Larini in his Chevrolet Lacetti and team-mate Alain Menu appeared to have made some progress as he was 15th overall. Rob Huff, the final Chevrolet driver did not take part in the session as mechanics were working to fix the flywheel of his car.
 

Gabriele Tarquini: “The track seems to suit the car. We made a simulation at home which has worked well and the gear ratios and set-up was very good for me. I had to wait while the mechanics fixed a problem with oil coming from my gear box. This left me with 15 minutes on the track but it was enough. The first lap was very good, but not perfect because I made a mistake. However, the following lap was great so I was able to take pole. I was ready in the pits with new tyres in case I needed to go back out because I was conscious there was every chance that one of my team-mates would go faster than me. This didn’t happen so I have managed to save my second set of tyres for tomorrow.”

James Thompson: “It’s been a fantastic result so far for the team, the car works very well here. The story of the championship seems to be that some manufacturers get on well at particular circuits while the others have to play catch-up all weekend. In this case our cars have worked exceptionally well straight away and it was just a fight between ourselves. I think Istanbul Park is a fantastic circuit and a great place to drive. It will be nicer when it has had a few more races because it is still slightly dirty off the race line. The long straights and good track width should provide some great racing tomorrow with a lot of overtaking potential. Most of the circuits are new to me this year and out of the all of them this has been my favourite one to learn.”

Augusto Farfus: “I had a few problems with my car this morning and so we tried different changes with the set-up. In the practices I was fighting just to get a good pace but in qualifying I was fighting for pole so what we changed worked. I tried my best and looking at the times it’s really close so I am happy. The most important thing is we have four cars at the front and I hope it is a good race for Alfa Romeo. BMW may not be starting at the front of the grid but in the race I think they will be strong towards the end. The final laps will be hard for us but I want to keep ahead for the entire race.”