Augusto Farfus (BR) of BMW Team Germany secured sixth place on the grid for the third round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. At the “Autódromo Miguel E. Abed” in Puebla-Amozoc (MX), the 24-year-old recorded the sixth-fastest time in the dying seconds of the qualifying session, setting a time of 1:41.583 minutes. Due to a penalty for Chevrolet’s Robert Huff (GB), he gained another grid position. Farfus was the only BMW national team driver who succeeded in making it into the top-ten. SEAT driver Jordi Gené (ES) clocked a 1:40.808-minute lap and claimed pole position for the first of Sunday’s two sprint races.

“As we expected, it was a truly difficult qualifying,” said Farfus after the session. “But I’m more than happy with sixth place. We knew that it would be very difficult to fight against the front-wheel drive cars. A big thank you goes to my team. Following the practice sessions, everyone worked extremely hard, and we managed to find the best compromise in terms of set-up.”

Félix Porteiro (ES) of BMW Team Italy-Spain led the way for the remaining quartet of BMW national team drivers by finishing 11th. BMW Team UK’s Andy Priaulx (GB) and Farfus’s team-mate Jörg Müller (DE) followed in 12th and 13th respectively. Alessandro Zanardi (IT) came 15th for BMW Team Italy-Spain. Following an accident in the first free practice session, the 41-year-old had to sit out the second practice in the morning. However, his team repaired his BMW 320si WTCC in time for qualifying.

Nine minutes before the end, the session was red-flagged. Tiago Monteiro (PT) was stranded in the gravel due to a technical problem on his SEAT. Should Monteiro’s car have an engine change, Porteiro, Priaulx, Müller and Zanardi will all gain one place on the starting grid.

Porteiro said: “A few things combine on this circuit: the height of the place, the low grip level and our rear-wheel drive. Consequently, there’s a big gap between us and the top. That’s why you cannot praise Augusto’s performance enough. On almost every other track, this would have earned him pole position. For my first race in Puebla I have clearly set my sight on P8 to have an excellent starting position for race two.”

“This circuit is absolutely unforgiving,” added Priaulx, who is ranked third in the current WTCC drivers’ standings. “You only need to be a little too quick when entering the turns, and you will get punished straight away. On my last run I lost the rear in turn 7. That’s a pity because the performance of the car was good and I could have ended up better. You can see that all cars carrying ballast lie close to each other. Handicap weight has an extreme effect here in Puebla.”

The third round of the World Touring Car Championship will start at 12:20hrs local time on Sunday (18.20hrs BST). Race two will get underway at 15:20hrs (21:20hrs BST). The drivers will have two 16 lap races ahead of them.