Despite setting fastest time in the second free practice session held at Monza today N.Technology Alfa Romeo driver James Thompson will start tomorrow's first FIA World Touring Car Championship race at Monza from the fourth row of the grid. His Dutch team mate Olivier Tielemans was inside the top-ten in both free practice sessions but will start race one from 17th place.

“We are slightly disappointed because in free practice we were on the pace," said Thompson. "The problem I have is that I was unable to benefit from working as a team and gaining slipstream because we are such a small team. I'm really pleased because the lap I did was as good as I could do alone."

Free Practice 1

Nicola Larini clocked the best lap of the first free practice session at Monza. The Italian driver completed his last lap in 2:01.224 which ousted independent driver Roberto Colciago from the top spot by 0.115 seconds. The third best lap was set by Tiago Monteiro of SEAT Sport; he was 0.136 of a second off Larini's time. Augusto Farfus drove around the Monza track in 2:01.440 which was the quickest of the BMW drivers and fourth overall. The young Brazilian had a hairy moment at the first chicane corner by braking late but utilised the run-off area to avoid damage.

Below Farfus on the timesheet was James Thompson. Despite only completing four laps due to braking problems the Briton posted a time of 2:01.463 at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo 156. Alex Zanardi, Alain Menu and Tom Coronel completed the top eight lap times respectively. Olivier Tielemans had a good session and claimed the ninth fastest time overall. Current championship leader, Andy Priaulx, managed the 12th best time with Jörg Müller 13th. During the early stages of the session Sergio Hernández went off and onto the gravel trap at the Parabolica after a clash with Robert Huff. Eighteen drivers' times were covered by only nine tenths of a second.

Practice 2

The fastest lap of the second free practice session came courtesy of James Thompson. The Alfa Romeo N.Technology driver's fastest lap was 2:00.898. He held the top spot for most of the session thanks to an early lap of 2:00.976 that he eventually managed to improve by one tenth. Nicola Larini of Chevrolet set the initial pace but was replaced by SEAT Sport's Gabriele Tarquini. In the later stages of the session the three Chevrolets completed a lap in a row to benefit from slipstreaming. Larini clocked a time of 2:01.172 which was second best overall. Alain Menu later went on to post the third best time which was 0.617 off the pace.
 

Rob Huff was 12th fastest after receiving a blame from the Stewards for the collision he had with Hernández in the previous session. SEAT Sport's best time came from Yvan Muller in fourth with a 2:01.537. Team-mate Tarquini was seventh quickest overall. The León drivers were split by the Alfa Romeo of Olivier Tielemans in fifth and BMW Team UK's Fredrik Ekblom in sixth. The top independent times were close with Roberto Colciago, Luca Rangoni and Pierre-Yves Corthals achieving the ninth to 11th positions respectively. The trio's times were within less than one tenth of a second.

Qualifying

SEAT Sport claimed an impressive 1-2-3 in qualifying at Monza in Italy. Yvan Muller posted a stunning 1:59.487 in the second half of the session to give the diesel powered León its first pole. In fact, it is also Muller's first ever pole position in the FIA WTCC. Jordi Gené (1:59.887) and Gabriele Tarquini (2:00.004), also at the wheel of diesel powered machines, will line up second and third respectively.

After the trio of SEAT cars, two Chevrolets will follow on the grid. Just as the SEAT cars did at the start of the session, the Chevrolet drivers formed a line after ten minutes and towed each other for extra speed. The result was fourth place for Larini and despite improving his time later (to 2:00.322) he qualified fourth. Alain Menu will line up behind his team-mate after his time of 2:00.358 placed him fifth. Huff was 16th quickest. To follow suit, a duo of BMW drivers is next on the timesheet. Augusto Farfus of BMW Team Germany and Félix Porteiro of BMW Team Italy-Spain clocked the sixth and seventh best times. Porteiro strayed into the gravel at the first chicane at the start of the session and pitted shortly after to solve some technical problems. He rejoined and set a time nine tenths slower than pole man Muller's.

The top eight qualifiers are completed by James Thompson and his N.Technology Alfa Romeo. The Briton completed a lap in 2:00.497. Luca Rangoni secured the independent pole by qualifying ninth overall; Rangoni stole first position from his rival Pierre-Yves Corthals who qualified 12th.