BMW Italy-Spain's Alessandro Zanardi clocked the fastest lap in the dying seconds of a fiercely-fought session to take his first pole position in the World Touring Car Championship at Brno.

Italian Zanardi fought with Alain Menu and Robert Huff for the top spot throughout the session, ultimately smashing the lap record, set in 2004 by Rickard Rydell, by a second with his time of 2:08.913.

Chevrolet driver Menu, one-tenth of a second off the pace, will start alongside him on the grid.

Zanardi's team-mate Félix Porteiro took third position by the end, pushing Chevrolet's Huff down into fourth.

Less than two-tenths of a second covered the top four drivers amid a strong showing for BMW Team Italy-Spain and Chevrolet.

Gabriele Tarquini was the only SEAT driver to challenge during the session. Eventually he placed fifth, over half-a-second behind the leader, as the SEAT TDI cars struggled for speed.

Tiago Monteiro followed him in sixth and James Thompson pushed his car up into seventh, finding speed in the Honda but unable to challenge for the top spots with a flying lap.

Pau winners Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx struggled for pace and they will begin the first race in eighth and 10th, sandwiching Jordi Gené's SEAT.

Farfus's team-mate Jörg Muller had more serious problems as he put his BMW in the gravel trap at Turn 7 on his fourth timed lap, which caused the session to be red flagged for a few minutes. He could not rejoin as his car was towed away.

Sergio Hernández qualified in 13th overall and on pole for the Independents' class with a time of 2:10.3541, ahead of Pierre Yves Corthals and Franz Engstler.

Young local driver Michal Matejovský made a promising debut in the championship placing his Sunred SEAT León fourth in the class.

Eurosport