The Cruzes Sign An Impressive 1-2-3 in Qualifying In Macau 20.11.2010: Pole for Huff ahead of Muller and Menu brings Manufacturers’ title closer Chevrolet dominated the decisive second qualification session in Macau, which had to be postponed to Saturday morning, as the delay accumulated in yesterday’s programme prevented

Pole for Huff ahead of Muller and Menu brings Manufacturers’ title closer

Chevrolet dominated the decisive second qualification session in Macau, which had to be postponed to Saturday morning, as the delay accumulated in yesterday’s programme prevented completion before darkness fell. There will be three Cruzes in the first three positions of the grid tomorrow, an ideal premise to secure the Manufacturers’ title and try to bring home also the runner-up position in the Drivers’ championship, where Yvan Muller is already out of reach and Rob Huff a strong contender for the vice-champion title.

It was precisely Rob Huff who took pole today, exactly as last year, ahead of Yvan Muller and Alain Menu, after Michelisz was imposed a 5-grid positions sanction, and lost the benefit of his second-fastest lap time. The excellent day of the Chevrolets was completed by the 9th position of the privately-run Chevrolet Lacetti of Bamboo Engineering driven by Darryl O’Young, who was the fastest among Independent contenders. In his home track, the Hong Kong driver made it to the Q2 for the first time and still is in contention for the Independents’ title.


• QUOTES

Rob Huff (1st): “What a nice result for the team this is! The Cruze and the RML team were simply fantastic today and this excellent qualifying result is the best way to close the season. It was an unusual and not easy qualifying session, with a full night in-between the two sessions, but we proved our competitiveness, and are in an ideal situation for tomorrow’s races.

We couldn’t ask for more, especially not in these conditions. It’s not easy to do a Q2 so early in the morning, without previous practice, and being basically obliged to be quick straight away as you jump into the car and mount new tires”.


Yvan Muller (2nd): “I am really happy with this result, especially after the little drama I had in the first fast lap attempt. I was going quite fast and probably got towed a little bit by the car in front of me at the braking for the Lisboa corner. I got into the corner too fast and hit the wall, luckily not too hard. I’m told this is the first time this season that I touch a barrier out of a mistake of my own... After that, I took no risks, repairs were done quickly and could still do second-fastest”.


Alain Menu (3rd) : “It was a positive qualifying session for the three of us, I am quite happy with the balance of the car and with my performance in the second run. Maybe, I could have done a slightly better time, but not as good as Rob’s”.




Eric Nève: “Finishing 1-2-3 in the last qualifying session of the season, exactly the same positions we had in the very first race of the year in Curitiba, simply proves our competitiveness and our consistency throughout the entire year. There is little more than we could say, except that we are tremendously happy!”


MACAU QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. R Huff Chevrolet Cruze 2m31s321

2. Y Muller Chevrolet Cruze + 0s452

3. A Menu Chevrolet Cruze + 0s541

4. T Monteiro SEAT León TDI + 0s625

5. A Farfus BMW 320si + 0s901

9. D O’Young Chevrolet Lacetti + 1s864


Eric Nève  Chevrolet Europe- also photos

More photos on automobilsport.com under PHOTOS SLIDESHOWS and PHOTOS Ecards   FIA WTCC