04.10.2003  ALFA ROMEO SNATCH THE TOP FOUR POSITION TO CLAIM A CLEAN SWEEP IN QUALIFYING AT ESTORIL

Ten minute into the session, the Italian driver ousted his team-mate Tarquini from the provisional pole, with a time of 1:47.634. Seven minutes later Tarquini jumped back at the top, when he was clocked at 1:47.509. But Larini responded and claimed the pole for good with a lap in 1:46.865, with seven minutes left. On their last timed laps, both Colciago and Tarquini improved to 1:47.219 and 1:47.389, to secure second and third positions respectively. Larini’s time represented a massive 1.9 second improvement compared to last year’s pole position, obtained by Rydell’s Volvo S60 in 1:48.734.

Again Dirk Müller emerged as the fastest BMW driver, and he even managed to provisionally squeeze among the Alfa Romeos, when he set the fourth-fastest time ahead of Thompson. However, the Englishman managed to reclaim fourth position with a lap in 1:47.518, completing Autodelta’s perfect result. BMW had to settle with three drivers, Dirk Müller, García and Jörg Müller, in fifth, sixth and seventh position; the latter with a gap of 1.2 seconds from the pole.

Clever Cats R&M’s Paolo Ruberti set pole position in the Independents class, with a lap in 1:48.463 (good enough for the eighth place overall), just ahead of Duncan Huisman’s 1:48.538. Andy Priaulx, currently second in the Drivers’ Championship, was placed tenth, with Jordi Gené, the fastest of the SEAT drivers in 11th position. The Spanish Manufacturer’s new driver, BTCC champion Yvan Muller qualified in a disappointing 17th position. As for Giovanardi, whose engine blew during the first free practice session, he set the 15th time at 1:48.846; without pushing too much, as he knew that he was going to start from the back of the grid in any case, due to the engine change.