Norbert Michelisz upstaged his FIA World Touring Car Championship rivals to land the DHL-presented pole position for the opening JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of Japan on Sunday and bag five bonus points in the process.
Armed with a Yokohama-shod Honda Civic WTCC, independent racer Michelisz made light of the sweltering temperatures to lap the 4.801-kilometre Twin Ring Motegi in a fastest time of 1m55.596s following a dramatic finale to Qualifying Q3. José María López will join Michelisz on the front row of the grid for the first 13-lap contest as Sébastien Loeb, Mehdi Bennani and Ma Qing Hua completed the top five.
Michelisz’s last-gasp effort brings to an end Citroën’s clean sweep of pole positions in 2015 and hands the Hungarian driver the third top start of his career and Honda’s fifth in the WTCC.
Meanwhile, Gabriele Tarquini said his failure to make it into Qualifying Q3 was down to him making too many mistakes in his Honda. Having set the pace in all three previous track sessions in Japan, the Italian will line up in a disconsolate sixth for race one with Yvan Muller one place behind. Tiago Monteiro was eighth fastest with Tom Chilton initially ninth and Nicky Catsburg in P10, which appeared to hand pole position to the LADA driver for the reverse grid second race. However, when Chilton’s best lap in Q2 was disallowed for a track limit infringement, Hugo Valente was promoted to P10 and race two pole in his independent Chevrolet. WTCC rookie and Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Nicolas Lapierre also progressed to Q2 at his first attempt.
Former WTCC champion Rob Huff, who was hampered in Free Practice by a throttle issue, topped the drivers who failed to progress beyond Q3. Grégoire Demoustier, Tom Coronel, John Filippi and Stefano D’Aste were also eliminated at the first knockout stage.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Car | Q1 time | Q2 time | Q3 time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 1:57.060 | 1:55.711 | 1:55.596 |
| 2 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:55.929 | 1:55.963 | 1:55.676 |
| 3 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:56.181 | 1:55.770 | 1:55.804 |
| 4 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1:56.211 | 1:55.990 | 1:55.835 |
| 5 | Ma Qing Hua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:55.995 | 1:55.722 | 1:56.038 |
| — | ---------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | --------- | --------- |
| 6 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1:56.040 | 1:56.137 | |
| 7 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:56.714 | 1:56.236 | |
| 8 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1:56.437 | 1:56.635 | |
| 9 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1:57.059 | 1:56.944 | |
| 10 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1:56.544 | 1:57.456 | |
| 11 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1:57.350 | 1:57.548 | |
| 12 | Nicolas Lapierre | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1:56.989 | 1:57.702 | |
| — | ---------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | --------- | --------- |
| 13 | Robert Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1:57.383 | ||
| 14 | Grégoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | 1:57.434 | ||
| 15 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1:57.663 | ||
| 16 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1:58.104 | ||
| 17 | Stefano D’Aste | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1:58.260 |