A lap of 2m03.910s of the 5.922-kilometre Slovakia Ring helped Muller to top the Qualifying Q3 shootout for the first time since the WTCC’s last visit to Slovakia in June 2015. It was the Citroën driver’s 29 pole since he began his FIA World Touring Car Championship career in 2006. 

Catsburg fell only four hundredths of a second short of giving LADA its maiden pole position in the WTCC. Defending champion and points leader José María López took third, despite causing a red flag in Q1 when he went off through the gravel on his first flying lap and dropped gravel over the track.

Honda’s Norbert Michelisz was quickest in Q2 but had to make do with fourth in the final order, ahead of team-mate Rob Huff.

In Q2, Thed Björk narrowly missed out on a place in the final segment for Polestar. The Swede ended up sixth ahead of Tiago Monteiro, Mehdi Bennani and Hugo Valente, who will start on pole for the reverse-grid Opening Race. Tom Chilton and Fredrik Ekblom are set to share row six on the grid for both races.

John Filippi was beaten to a place in Q2 by Huff, and was joined in making an early exit by compatriot Grégoire Demoustier. On his WTCC return, James Thompson was 14th ahead of Tom Coronel, who struggled with a mechanical problem on his Chevrolet, and WTCC qualifying first-timer Ferenc Ficza.