ANDERSTORP, 28 July 2007 - It was again a memorable qualifying in Anderstorp, ahead of tomorrow's Race of Sweden, the 13th and 14th rounds of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), as weather conditions changed dramatically during the 30-minute decisive session. It started under heavy rain and ended with an almost dry track and a superb battle for pole position.

The Chevrolet Lacettis led the pack during most of the session, first with Rickard Rydell under the rain, then with Nicola Larini, who eventually finished second and will start tomorrow in Race 1 from the first row. Rob Huff scored the third-fastest time in the closing laps, while Rydell was fifth and Alain Menu 17th, after having suffered grip problems in the treacherous conditions.

The Chevrolet boys are very well placed for tomorrow's races, where weather conditions will doubtlessly play a key role.

• QUOTES

Nicola Larini (2nd): “It's a dream to be in first row in such conditions and with such a high ballast. It is a pity to have lost the pole position in the final seconds of the session, but second is a very good result anyway, I am really happy. The first half of the session, in the wet, was quite difficult. The track was very slippery and I could not avoid spinning in turn 1. Then, as the track started drying up and I put my second set of tyres, everything went well and I could make some very fast laps. Unfortunately, in the very last one, I lost some time overtaking another car, and could not improve further. For tomorrow, it is difficult to say whether it would be better for us to have a wet or dry track, but personally I would prefer if it rains.”

Rob Huff (3rd): “I kept the set-up for dry conditions we had worked on in the morning and just waited for the track to start drying. We had some pretty precise weather forecast pointing to that, and we took the right decision. The dry line came out very quickly and I could do three-four very good laps. It's nice to be in the top three in qualifying for the second time in a row.”

Rickard Rydell (5th): “Things went very well for me in the wet, I could keep the top position in the time sheet for half of the session. Then, as the track started to dry up, it was tougher. I think we changed our final set of tyres a little bit too late and in my final lap I also had a lot of traffic.”

Alain Menu (17th): “It was a difficult qualifying for me. I had little grip in my car and we need to understand why. It was really difficult to try to go faster as I had a lot of understeer entering in the corners and not a very good grip when steering and braking. I hope we can find why before tomorrow.”

Eric Nève: “Three cars in the top five is really a good result, we are very happy, and one car in each of the three first rows in the grid of race 1, with a rolling start, is not a bad way to start your Sunday! Still, it is difficult to predict what can happen tomorrow, in such fast-changing weather conditions. I think that for us rain could be a good thing, as we proved the Lacettis are very competitive in the wet and this could level the impact of weight ballast.”