It was the first time this season that López, driving a Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, had not started on the DHL-presented pole spot and further underlines Muller’s continued resurgence in his quest to win a fifth world title following an indifferent start to his 2015 campaign.

Young French star Hugo Valente was a career-high second – and fastest of the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy contenders – after a fine effort in his Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1. He initially feared his efforts would be in vain when he was handed a five-place grid demotion for a yellow flag infringement in practice. However, when new evidence came to light, the penalty was rescinded, leaving Valente free to line up in second place for the first 14-lap MOL Group WTCC Race of Hungary tomorrow with López in third.

Sébastien Loeb was fourth quickest in Qualifying Q3, perfect payback for his Citroën Racing mechanics, who rushed to repair his damaged C-Elysée WTCC after he crashed during the opening minutes of Free Practice 1 this morning. Ma Qing Hua also made it through to Q3.

“To be honest I was surprised by my lap time in the end because my target was 1m49.0s,” said Muller, who clocked a 1m48.848s. “I was focused on that and especially focused not to do a mistake and also focused to look after the tyres for the complete lap because that is quite difficult. In the end I did better than my target.”

Muller has been a winner in Hungary every year that the country has hosted the WTCC but insisted there was no secret to his pace. “It’s a combination of many things. Good car, good team, good balance of the car, a good feeling with the car and then a bit of luck as well. Everything came together well for me today and of course I am pleased to score my first pole position of 2015.”

Tiago Monteiro gave the revamped Honda Civic WTCC a solid debut, narrowly missing out on a slot in Q3. However, there was frustration for team-mate Gabriele Tarquini, who crashed his car in Q1, bringing out the red flags as result. Rob Huff was the top LADA driver in seventh, the best qualifying performance from the all-new Vesta, with Tom Coronel, Tom Chilton and Norbert Michelisz completing the top 10. Hungarian Honda hero Michelisz’s capture of 10^th earns him pole for Sunday’s second race, when tens of thousands of fans will cheer his progress.

Mehdi Bennani was 11^th quickest with Stefano D’Aste, John Filippi, James Thompson, Grégoire Demoustier and Mikhail Kozlovskiy completing the top 16. Complications from recent dental treatment will prevent Thompson from starting either race on Sunday.