Tiago Monteiro claimed the first pole of the 2017 FIA World Touring Car Championship for Honda, with a time of 1m21.79s.
Monteiro was the last driver to run in the Q3 single-lap shoot-out and snatched pole from Volvo’s Néstor Girolami who will start in second. Norbert Michelisz, who was fastest in FP2, will line up in third, ahead of the ALL-INKL Munnich Motorsport Citroën of Rob Huff in fourth.
Local hero Mehdi Bennani will start his home race from the fifth spot on the grid.
Nicky Catsburg suffered a spin in the Volvo, which caused a red flag in Q2. However, he did manage to get out once the session went green again and will line up on the main race grid in sixth.
Thed Björn and Tom Chilton were seventh and eighth respectively, while Ryo Michigami qualified a career-best ninth.
RC Motorsport’s rookie Yann Ehrlacher ended his first WTCC qualifying session in 10th – putting him on pole for tomorrow’s reverse grid opening race.
Esteban Guerrieri was 11th, with Tom Coronel setting a time good enough for 12th, after only just making it into Q2 thanks to a last-gasp effort in the dying moments of Q1. That meant that Daniel Nagy was edged out and will start the main race in 13th place, ahead of John Filippi who will line up in 14th.
Neither Zengo Motorsport drivers managed to get their Honda’s into Q2, with Nagy’s rookie team-mate Aurélien Panis starting at the back of the grid on Sunday.