Alex Muller made it three in a row during qualifying for the Budapest City Challenge on Saturday at the Hungaroring, round five of the 2009 FIA GT Championship.

Muller, Karl Wendlinger and Enrique Bernoldi, who had all been fast in both free practice and pre-qualifying, traded fastest times in the qualifying session, with Muller finally emerging fastest, with a lap of 1 minute 41.815 seconds.

This was nearly two tenths faster than the pole time set by Jarek Janis in the Zakspeed Saleen, on the last FIA GT visit here in 2006.

This was Muller's third consecutive pole position, after Oschersleben and Spa, and the fourth pole position this season for Vitaphone Racing - a big change compared to 2008, when the team did not claim a single pole.

“We're pretty happy here with the car; the performance is good,” Muller commented. “We worked very hard for a qualifying set-up because qualifying is nearly everything here because there aren't many chances to overtake. We worked for the qualifying and the other cars in our team worked for the race setup, so we're very confident for tomorrow because I think we have a strong and consistent car.”

Muller will start alongside the #14 K plus K Motorsport Saleen S7, Karl Wendlinger having set a time of 1m 41.929s, one tenth slower of P1.

“Things are going very well. I think we've been competitive all weekend,” the Austrian commented. “The car is fast, the car is consistent and Ryan is fast and competitive, so we're looking forward to the race.

“We've been fast on many different circuits this year, and I think we'll be fast here in Budapest too. I'm looking forward to the race.”

Enrique Bernoldi placed the #8 Sangari Team Brazil Corvette Z06 third, on just his second appearance in the FIA GT Championship.