N.Technology's James Thompson is looking forward to a hard fight to the front in tomorrow's 13th and 14th rounds of the FIA World Touring Car Championship at Anderstorp after qualifying an unlucky tenth at the Swedish circuit. Unpredictable weather made it difficult to judge the track conditions and Thompson was left frustrated, unable to improve his best time. With another lap to warm up the tyres, he is confident that the Alfa Romeo 156 had the pace to fight for a front row position at a circuit where it has a strong record. Thompson proved his pace during practice by setting fifth fastest time in Friday testing and placing fifth and sixth during Saturday morning's free practice sessions. With two 13-lap races tomorrow, Thompson and team-mate Olivier Tielemans will have the time to put that speed to good use by fighting through the field.

At the front, Tiago Monteiro claimed SEAT's first pole position of the season and the first for him in WTCC at the end of a breathtaking qualifying session that challenged men, teams and machines to the limit. Rainfall before the start and during the opening of the session meant the track was wet. Almost immediately Robert Huff strayed off the track at the North bend but rejoined. As the dying minutes saw the racing line dry out dramatically the Briton jumped from mid-way on the timesheet to 3rd fastest. His Chevrolet team-mate Nicola Larini was always in the front running and held provisional pole at various stages during the session. With one minute left the Italian rose to the top with a 1:50.195 which was seven tenths of a second better than anyone else. His determination did not wane as he improved his time by a further 0.022 of a second. It was only Monteiro who spoilt it for the man in blue as he crossed the line with a 1:50.056.

Fredrick Ekblom also had his sights on pole for he topped the timesheet on two occasions. Eventually the Swede posted the fourth best time overall and will be the leading BMW tomorrow. Behind him on the grid will be fellow countryman Rickard Rydell who set a 1:50.983. Gabriele Tarquini too stood in contention for pole while team mate Jordi Gené repeatedly set the faster first sector time. Eventually Gené qualified sixth in the new León TDI; one place ahead of Tarquini.
 

Marco Calovolo, Technical Director: “Our objective was to be in the top five and in qualifying obviously the last ten minutes were key as the track was drying. This is not the result we wanted and we now need to concentrate on tomorrow."

James Thompson: "I'm really disappointed - we saved dry tyres during the free practice sessions so that we'd have good rubber for qualifying then the conditions changed. The car is very quick and we had a good chance to be right at the front, and if we had maybe two more laps it could have been very different. At least we know we have a strong car for tomorrow, even if we have to come from tenth."

Olivier Tielemans: “I had a lot of understeer during the session because of the conditions and it was very important for me to keep on the track and use the track time. It's only my second time driving the Alfa Romeo 156 in the wet, so it's all valuable experience and I have to make sure that I make use of it. I was getting quicker and quicker in the session as I was getting more used to the conditions and the car."

FIA World Touring Car Championship – Anderstorp, Qualifying results: 1. Tiago Monteiro (POR), SEAT Leon, 1:50.056; 2. Nicola Larini (ITA), Chevrolet Lacetti, 1:50.173; 3. Rob Huff (GBR), Chevrolet Lacetti, 1:50.832; 4. Fredrik Ekblom (SWE), BMW 320si, 1:50.922; 5. Rickard Rydell (SWE), Chevrolet Lacetti, 1:50.983; 6. Jordi Gene (ESP), SEAT Leon, 1:51.040; 7. Gabriele Tarquini (ITA), SEAT Leon, 1:51.076; 8. Roberto Colciago (ITA), SEAT Leon, 1:52.663; 9. Tom Coronel (NED), SEAT Leon, 1:51.215; 10. James Thompson (GBR), Alfa Romeo 156, 1:51.216; 24. Olivier Tielemans (NED), Alfa Romeo 156, 1:52.827.