Qualifying report
WTCC Moscow
Moscow WTCC: Muller beats Lopez to pole
Citroen’s Yvan Muller took his second pole position of the 2015 FIA World Touring Car Championship season at the Moscow Raceway, less than half-a-tenth of a second ahead of championship leader Jose Maria Lopez.
Edited: Jun 6, 2015, 3:45 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
But the Citroens didn’t have it all their own way as they were pushed hard throughout qualifying by both Honda and Lada, with Gabriele Tarquini and Rob Huff qualifying third and fourth.
The first part of qualifying was all about the fight to make it into the top 12, and Lada put all its efforts into making it into the second part of qualifying running new tyres for all three drivers Rob Huff, Jaap van Lagen and Nicky Catsburg, with the Russian manufacturer getting all three cars into the top 12 for the first time in its championship history.
Muller set the lap record during the first part of qualifying with a time of 1:37.900, which was never bettered throughout the session, with Tarquini second, Lopez third and Huff fourth.
In Q2, it was Lopez who went out and set the first target time ahead of Muller and Tarquini, while Huff, Tarquini and Tom Chilton would set improvements on their second runs to make the top five shootout.
Tiago Monteiro secured the critical tenth position and therefore pole position for Honda for race two, while WRC legend Sebastien Loeb and van Lagen will line-up 11th and 12th for both races tomorrow.
Story of the shootout
In the Q3 shootout, it was down to the ROAL Chevrolet of Chilton, Lada’s Huff, Honda’s Tarquini and the two Citroens of Muller and Lopez to fight for pole in that order.
Each driver improved until Lopez, with the Argentinian unable to get the better of Muller, with the four-time champion therefore taking his second pole position of the season, and with it the five points for pole position which safely moves him ahead of Loeb in the drivers’ standings.
“It was a tough lap,” said Muller. "The time difference is very small, every thousandth was important. Of course there are some other thousandths to find but thankfully it was enough.”
The first 16 lap race starts at 12:15 local time on Sunday.
Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Moscow ePrix: Vergne grabs pole from Piquet by 0.02s
Next article Plato breaks lap record in Oulton Park practice
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Yvan Muller
Muller, Ehrlacher retained by Lynk & Co for 2020
WTCR
WTCR
Muller, Ehrlacher retained by Lynk & Co for 2020
Macau WTCR: Muller scores back-to-back wins
WTCR
WTCR
Macau
Macau WTCR: Muller scores back-to-back wins
Macau WTCR: Muller wins Race 1, Michelisz retakes points lead
WTCR
WTCR
Macau
Macau WTCR: Muller wins Race 1, Michelisz retakes points lead
More from
Citroën World Touring Car team
Muller: "I've just done my job"
WTCC
WTCC
Muller: "I've just done my job"
Muller thanks Lopez for Motegi WTCC win "gesture"
WTCC
WTCC
Motegi
Muller thanks Lopez for Motegi WTCC win "gesture"
Monteiro: Citroen likely to remain "the strongest car" in 2017
WTCC
WTCC
Monteiro: Citroen likely to remain "the strongest car" in 2017
Latest news
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
46 min
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP1
Max Papis announces departure as IndyCar chief steward
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 59 min
Max Papis announces departure as IndyCar chief steward
Lamborghini Super Trofeo | Asia Race 2: Victory for Li/Sherlock, but Tregurtha crowned champion over Sceats/Wisniewski
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
1 h
Lamborghini Super Trofeo | Asia Race 2: Victory for Li/Sherlock, but Tregurtha crowned champion over Sceats/Wisniewski
Rackley W.A.R. to immediately shut down NASCAR Truck Series team
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Talladega
1 h
Rackley W.A.R. to immediately shut down NASCAR Truck Series team
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe