​Two out of two pole positions for Yvan Muller in China

The drivers faced difficult conditions as showers of rain hit the track during the qualifying session, but Yvan Muller nonetheless claimed pole by close to three tenths of a second, elevating him to third in the championship thanks to the five points for pole.

"A one-two for the team and with Yann is fantastic. The first part of the job was done yesterday morning, the second part yesterday afternoon and the third part this morning. This was better than we expected and let's see where this will take us in the races," said Yvan Muller.

Fellow Frenchman Yann Ehrlacher made an emotional return to the front after struggling yesterday to start second.

"I wasn't comfortable in the car yesterday and I studied data, videos and more until one o'clock this night. I am really pleased, this is a great comeback for me and I really look forward to the races," said Yann Ehrlacher.

Thed Björk finished ninth in the qualifying session and will thanks to the reversed grid order start second for the second race of the weekend. But the results are still provisional as an incident, that caused the session to be ended early, between Alfa Romeo driver Ma Qing Hua and Honda driver Néstor Girolami is investigated by the stewards.

"The car felt really good today, the pace was right. There was some rain in Q2 and I lost the rear of the car a couple of times. But I am second for the reversed grid and that is great. My team-mate Yvan did a great job today as well, congrats to him," said Thed Björk.

Andy Priaulx claimed eleventh position on the grid but could be elevated to the reversed-grid pole position for the second race should Honda driver Giolami be penalised for the incident with Ma.

"I had oversteer on my lap and then the red flags came out. At the moment, if I didn't have bad luck I would have no luck at all. But I will definitely fight hard in the races, the car feels a lot better today," said Andy Priaulx.

UPDATE: Andy Priaulx has been elevated to the reversed-grid pole position for Race 2 as Honda driver Néstor Girolami was penalised for his incident with Ma Qing Hua. Thed Björk will start third, Yann Ehrlacher ninth and Yvan Muller tenth.

The second race of the WTCR weekend at Ningbo International Speedpark starts at 14:30 local time / 08:30 CEST.

Results Qualifying 2 – Combined Q1/Q2/Q3

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