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Zandvoort: Qualifying notes

MENU AND LARINI MAKE A CHEVROLET FRONT ROW For the first time in WTCC history the front row of the grid will be filled by two Chevrolet Lacetti cars. Alain Menu dominated the electrifying session, improving his time whenever others looked set to ...

MENU AND LARINI MAKE A CHEVROLET FRONT ROW

For the first time in WTCC history the front row of the grid will be filled by two Chevrolet Lacetti cars. Alain Menu dominated the electrifying session, improving his time whenever others looked set to challenge for the pole.After he set a provisional pole position of 1:47.578 he improved to 1:47.044, a time that his team-mate Nicola Larini was able to close on but not to match.

The Italian will line up alongside the Swiss, only 0.157 slower. Augusto Farfus ensured BMW were in the top three with a lap of 1:47.519.

Luca Rangoni, independent driver for Proteam Motorsport, put in an outstanding performance on his last lap to qualify fourth overall. For most of the session Roberto Colciago of SEAT Sport Italia was the fastest independent but eventually he qualified 10th overall.

The newest driver to the SEAT Sport team, Tiago Monteiro, achieved their best qualifying result as he was placed fifth with a time of 1:47.738. Team-mate Jordi Gene clocked the 7th best time while BMW Team Italy-Spain's Felix Porteiro slotted in between the two.

Andy Priaulx spoiled his fastest lap by making a mistake at turn ten, consequently he qualified 8th ahead of Robert Huff of Chevrolet. James Thompson's time of 1:48.121 at the wheel of his N.technology Alfa Romeo 156 was good enough to place him 12th on the grid tomorrow.

Local man Tom Coronel qualified 15th; the pressure was on him as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands watched the session from the GR Asia garage.

ZANDVOORT QUALIFYING QUOTES

Alain MENU: "For Chevrolet this result is fantastic. They have worked so hard for nearly three years and our first pole from qualifying is well deserved."Since 2005 we have improved the car step by step but we are getting there. Since Brazil it has been a dramatic improvement. I expected us to be good here because there are varied corners and lots of ups and downs. The races tomorrow will be tough because this track is hard on tyres, especially on the front wheel cars. The BMWs might be better over the duration of a race."

Nicola LARINI: "Yesterday was a frustrating day for me because I was over a second slower than my team-mates. The car is good on this circuit and it is my first time here so step by step we improved and I'm happy to be second now. I think we have made a big jump forward because in Brazil we were running 2006 specification aerodynamics but here we are on 2007 specs. We have also made changes to the suspension which has helped. The rolling start will help us tomorrow but it will not be an easy task to stay ahead of the rest."

Augusto FARFUS: "The front wheel drive cars are much better than the BMW's over one lap but we will see about the race. I'm happy with qualifying but it is time to start thinking about the championship and that means consistently scoring points. The sand and wind are a problem for everyone because they create a covering of sand on the track which makes it slippery."

Eric NÈVE -- Chevrolet Motorsport Manager: "We thought that we had good chances to do well today, but having two cars on the front row is even more than we expected. Actually the work the team did to improve has been translated into reality."

Luca RANGONI: "I have to thank Nicola (Larini), because I benefitted from his aspration on my fastest lap. It was a fantastic result for a private team, however I will better focus on winning the independents' class tomorrow, rather than on a possible overall result."

-credit: wtcc

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