A record field of 25 cars took part in the session, and four minutes into it Rickard Rydell started the hostilities with a lap in 1:50.111. SEAT’s Swede was immediately ousted by his team-mate Diefenbacher’s 1:49.667, which gave the German youngster a provisional pole. However, soon the BMW drivers made clear they were aiming to steal the pole from SEAT. One after the other, Jörg Müller (1:49.768), Andy Priaulx (1:49.738), Antonio García (1:49.854) and Dirk Müller (1:49.749) managed to close the gap from Diefenbacher. Then, with only five minutes left, Jörg performed his top note with a lap in 1:49.357, claiming the pole position for good. Priaulx responded with a 1:49.562 which gave him the second position only for a few seconds, because immediately Diefenbacher clocked a 1:49.509, demoting the Briton to third; in his turn the German driver was ousted from the second place by Dirk’s 1:49.468 just as the session expired.
Augusto Farfus was the fastest of the Alfa Romeo works drivers, and qualified sixth with a lap in 1:49.812, just head of his team-mates Tarquini and Giovanardi. Oregon Team’s Michele Bartyan emerged as the best in the Independents Trophy, also managing to break into the top-ten of the overall classification. This was the first pole in the Trophy for the Austrian driver.
1 Jörg Müller BMW 320i 1:49.357
2 Dirk Müller BMW 320i +0.111
3 Frank Diefenbacher SEAT Toledo +0.152
4 Andy Priaulx BMW 320i +0.205
5 Antonio Garcia BMW 320i +0.249
6 Augusto Farfus Jr. Alfa Romeo 156 +0.455
7 Gabriele Tarquini Alfa Romeo 156 +0.622
8 Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo 156 +0.625
9 Rickard Rydell SEAT Toledo +0.754
10 Michele Bartyan Alfa Romeo 156 +0.863
11 Tom Coronel BMW 320i +0.942
12 Luca Rangoni Alfa Romeo 156 +1.077
13 Kurt Mollekens BMW 320i +1.294
14 Alessandro Zanardi BMW 320i +1.465
15 Jordi Gene SEAT Toledo +1.700
16 Jan Magnussen Peugeot 307 +1.998
17 Alessandro Balzan Honda Accord +2.127
18 Salvatore Tavano Alfa Romeo 156 +2.388
19 Stefano D'Aste BMW 320i +2.456
20 Carl Rosenblad BMW 320i +2.801
21 Simon Harrison Honda Civic +3.305
22 Sebastian Grunert Ford Focus +3.791
23 Roland Asch Ford Focus +3.937
24 Toni Ruokonen Honda Civic +4.647
25 Klaas Zwart BMW 320i +5.723
Source: MST & ETCC media
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