Tarquini takes pole in Porto

If the two free practice sessions were dominated by BMW and Chevrolet, it was Seat which placed a Leon on the front row of the Porto meeting. Gabriele Taquini set the best time in 2:09.308 and will start on the front row for the second time this season after the Valencia meeting. Robert Huff will start alongside him on Sunday. The Briton missed pole by 0.087 sec. Third, Yvan Muller managed to improve his times compared to the two free practice sessions to sign a 2:09.493 at just 0.185 sec. of Tarquini's time.

Andy Priaulx, for his part, managed to secure a place on the second row while his 320si has 40 kg of ballast compared to the -10 kg granted to the Chevrolets and the absence of ballast for the Seat Leons. His teammate Augusto Farfus, who was very fast in free practice (1st and 2nd time in free practice 1 and 2) did not manage to repeat his performance and only set the seventh time. Alain Menu (Chevrolet) and Tiago Monteiro (Seat) take 5th and 6th places while Larini (Chevrolet), Rydell (Seat) and Gené (Seat) complete the top 10.

?I took risks and made a few mistakes but I managed to get pole position which is the most important thing. However, statistics show that when I am on pole, I do not win. I will try to change that!?, said Tarquini.

Finally, James Thompson, for his first appearance on the new Lada Priora, could not do better than the 22nd time.