The Zengö Motorsport driver was clocked at 1:45.917, nearly half-a-second faster than Thompson’s 1:46.378 that marked the British driver’s best performance of the weekend so far after he was slowed by traffic during yesterday’s Qualifying session.

Tiago Monteiro ranked third with his Castrol Honda Team car (1:46.438) ahead of the RML Chevrolet Cruze of Yvan Muller (1:46.687).

The Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC of Mehdi Bennani rounded off the top five with a best lap of 1:46.709, which placed the Moroccan driver on top of the Yokohama Trophy field. Bennani will start Race 2 from pole position following the grid penalty imposed to Michel Nykjær.

Race 1 pole sitter Tom Chilton was classified sixth (1:46.785). The top eight positions consisted of six different manufacturers, with Rob Huff being the quickest of the SEAT León drivers in eighth place (1:46.911).

Race 1 is scheduled to start at 11.50 local time (20.50 CET) with Race 2 at 14.20.