Nicky Catsburg claimed an emphatic first pole position for himself and LADA as the Russian marque dominated a wet qualifying session for FIA WTCC ROSNEFT Race of Russia.
Catsburg was the class of the field throughout qualifying in the difficult conditions, leading both Q1 and Q2 before claiming the DHL pole position by 1.438 seconds in the Q3 shoot-out.
The Dutch driver’s closest rivals were his team-mates Gabriele Tarquini and Hugo Valente, who completed a memorable 1-2-3 for LADA at Moscow Raceway.
The biggest challenge to LADA came from James Thompson, who secured fourth on the grid on his third appearance of the season in the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze and was the leading WTCC Trophy driver.
Norbert Michelisz rounded out the top five that made it though to Q3, as championship leader José María López was made to settle for sixth. Tom Coronel was seventh ahead of Yvan Muller, Mehdi Bennani and Tiago Monteiro.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Car | Q1 time | Q2 time | Q3 time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport | Lada | 1:59.073 | 1:57.924 | 1:57.722 |
| 2 | Gabriele Tarquini | LADA Sport | Lada | 2:00.411 | 1:59.093 | 1:59.160 |
| 3 | Hugo Valente | LADA Sport | Lada | 2:00.882 | 2:00.335 | 2:00.201 |
| 5 | James Thomson | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2:01.296 | 2:00.401 | 2:01.241 |
| 4 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2:00.830 | 2:00.336 | 2:01.357 |
| — | ---------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | --------- | --------- |
| 6 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 2:01.306 | 2:00.561 | |
| 7 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2:00.621 | 2:00.826 | |
| 8 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 2:01.411 | 2:00.882 | |
| 9 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2:02.118 | 2:00.942 | |
| 10 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2:01.075 | 2:01.073 | |
| 11 | Rob Huff | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2:01.832 | 2:01.152 | |
| 12 | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2:01.730 | 2:01.722 | |
| — | ---------- | -------- | -------- | -------- | --------- | --------- |
| 13 | Fredrik Ekblom | Polestar Cyan | Volvo | 2:02.373 | ||
| 14 | Grégoire Demoustier | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2:02.601 | ||
| 15 | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan | Volvo | 2:03.463 | ||
| 16 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 2:03.618 | ||
| 17 | Ferenc Ficza | Zengo | Honda | 2:04.134 |