Yvan’s the man on debut for Chevrolet squad

Mar 7 2010 by Zoe Burn, Sunday Sun

YVAN MULLER scorched to his first pole with the Chevrolet squad as the World Touring Car Championship got under way in Brazil last night.

The 2008 champ threw down the gauntlet to his SEAT and BMW rivals.

He clocked a fastest lap of 1.23:725 around the Curitiba circuit and that time smashed the previous lap record by almost half a second.

In a closely-fought battle between the 10 drivers who made it into last night’s second qualifying session, it was Muller who dominated the 10-minute shoot-out.

He led a caterpillar of nine cars across the line as the chequered flag fell.

In his first race weekend in the Chevrolet Cruze LT after leaving the SEAT squad at the end of 2009, the Swiss star had been sitting comfortably in the top four during earlier practice sessions.

But putting the hammer down when it was needed most, he took the top spot with ease as the session headed into its final minutes.

“This is fantastic, it’s always good to start a season like this,” he beamed.

“I did it last year and now I do it again this year.

“This is my first race with Chevrolet so I am pleased for the team.

“We have taken first, third and fourth so that is good for all of us.

“I still have some troubles with some lines so I still have some improvements myself to make to drive the car better, but it will come,” he added.

Second on the grid for today’s opening race will be Jordi Gene, followed by Muller’s team-mate Alain Menu. Third Chevrolet driver Rob Huff was the fastest Brit across the line in fourth, with 2009 champ Gabriele Tarquini only able to manage fifth in his SEAT.

Triple WTCC champion Andy Priaulx will start from sixth place in his Team RBM BMW.

That follows a session where he was never in a position to challenge the front-runners

And it was a tough start to the WTCC campaign for Newcastle’s Harry Vaulkhard.

He was only able to qualify in 18th spot.

The 24-year-old, who arrived at the track for the first time last week, had a skirmish with a tyre wall in free practice yesterday morning after running in 15th on Friday.

Despite chipping away at his lap times as qualifying wore on, he was unable to climb higher up the grid in his Bamboo Engineering Chevrolet Lacetti.

TOP 10: 1 6 Yvan MULLER FRA Chevrolet Cruze 1:23.725 5 158.87, 2 4 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon TDI 1:23.757 5 0.032 158.81, 3 8 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Cruze 1:23.829 5 0.104 158.68, 4 7 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Cruze 1:23.833 5 0.108 158.67, 5 1 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon TDI 1:23.834 5 0.109 158.67, 6 11 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320si 1:23.955 6 0.230 158.44, 7 10 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 1:23.981 4 0.256 158.39, 8 17 Michel NYKJAER DEN SEAT Leon TDI 1:24.161 5 0.436 158.05, 9 2 Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Leon TDI 1:24.325 5 0.600 157.74, 10 5 Norbert MICHELISZ HUN SEAT Leon TDI 1:24.926 5 1.201 156.63