Moscow WTCC: Jose Maria Lopez secures third pole of 2014
Points leader Jose Maria Lopez bounced back from free practice struggles to claim pole position for round six of the World Touring Car Championship at Moscow Raceway
The Citroen star, who is contesting his debut season in the championship, also extends his lead in the drivers' standings to 46 points over reigning champion Yvan Muller.
The Frenchman was a surprising omission from the final stage of qualifying, after battling an apparently oversteer-prone C-Elysee in Q2.
Factory Honda racers Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro capitalised on Muller's troubles and produced their finest qualifying showing of the season - the Civic duo claiming second and third.
Tarquini will start alongside Lopez on the front row of Sunday's opening race, having ended Q3 0.226 seconds behind Lopez's benchmark time of 1m38.651s.
Nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb edged out leading RML Chevrolet Cruze competitor Tom Chilton by 0.118s to claim fourth place.
Watch highlight videos on the AUTOSPORT WTCC page
Privateer Honda runners Mehdi Bennani and Norbert Michelisz ended the session seventh and eighth, which seals the pair second row starting positions for the reversed-grid race two.
Campos Chevrolet driver Hugo Valente picks up pole for the second race, courtesy of tenth fastest time in Q2, where the Frenchman will head 2014 WTCC debutant Ma Qing Hua in the fourth of this year's dominant factory Citroens.
Fellow WTCC newcomer Nikita Misiulia is set to start from last in his TC2 Campos SEAT Leon.
Hungaroring winner Gianni Morbidelli suffered damage to his Munnich Chevrolet Cruze after running wide on the exit of the high-speed Turn 6.
The Italian sustained damage to his front splitter, which contributed to his qualifying position of 17th.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Jose Maria Lopez Citroen 1m38.651s 2. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m38.877s +0.226s 3. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m39.166s +0.515s 4. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 1m39.580s +0.929s 5. Tom Chilton ROAL Chevrolet 1m39.698s +1.047s 6. Yvan Muller Citroen 1m39.575s Q2 7. Mehdi Bennani Proteam Honda 1m39.715s Q2 8. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m40.001s Q2 9. Ma Qing Hua Citroen 1m40.092s Q2 10. Hugo Valente Campos Chevrolet 1m40.312s Q2 11. Rene Munnich Munnich Chevrolet 1m40.368s Q2 12. Dusan Borkovic Campos Chevrolet No time set 13. Tom Coronel ROAL Chevrolet 1m40.327s Q1 14. Robert Huff Lada 1m40.639s Q1 15. Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 1m40.653s Q1 16. James Thompson Lada 1m40.655s Q1 17. Gianni Morbidelli Munnich Chevrolet 1m42.091s Q1 18. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m44.011s Q1 19. Pasquale Di Sabatino Engstler BMW 1m44.229s Q1 20. John Filippi Campos SEAT 1m46.467s Q1 21. Nikita Misiulia Campos SEAT 1m46.498s Q1
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