Saturday, 17th May 2008

Frenchman leads the way for the SEAT squad at Valencia as the WTCC returns to competitive action in Spain.

“Then after the session my car failed the ride height test on one point of the front splitter, but I don't know whether this is due me riding the kerbs in a few corners or whether it is related to the new kind of rain tyres we still have to get used to. Needless to say this will affect my championship ambitions, but at the same time I will most likely have a very light car at the next race in Pau, which is still one of my favourites.”

Menu's exclusion from the times means Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff will now start third ahead of the home favourite Jordi Gene in the third of the diesel Leons. Then comes a train of BMW drivers, with defending champion Andy Priaulx having qualified ahead of Schnitzer pairing Jorg Muller and August Farfus as well as Alex Zanardi, who had looked set to qualify closer to the front before slipping back late in the session.

“This qualifying session was very close,” Priaulx said. “I think most of us had at least one off during the 30 minutes. I'm very happy with fifth place. I hope we can get a good result from there and feel positive for both races. It was the first test of the new wet tyres and it went well.”

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Nicola Larini will start ninth in the third Lacetti while Rickard Rydell, the current series leader, was left bitterly disappointed with tenth place. Behind him meanwhile, James Thompson will start eleventh for his first race in the N.Technology Honda Accord.

"Obviously it's the first time in the rain with the car and we were just getting quicker each lap,” he said before news of Menu being excluded filtered through. ““If we had more time we could have worked on the set-up of the car and gone quicker. In a way it's disappointing to be twelfth [before the exclusion] because now we have some experience in the wet we could have gone a lot faster."

Of the Independent runners, Stefano D'Aste was quickest from Sergio Hernandez and Pierre-Yves Corthals, while four cars failed to qualify inside the maximum qualifying time in the tricky conditions.

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