diff --git a/lib/korap_rc.js b/lib/korap_rc.js
index 0bdf1af..e2d8a15 100644
--- a/lib/korap_rc.js
+++ b/lib/korap_rc.js
@@ -70,17 +70,38 @@
         }
     }
 
-    async search(page, query) {
+    async search(page, query, options = {}) {
+        // Both the navigation and the post-navigation settle should honour the
+        // caller-supplied timeout. Without this, Puppeteer's default 30s
+        // navigation timeout silently caps the wait, so complex queries on very
+        // large corpora time out (false-positive failure) even when
+        // KORAP_SEARCH_TIMEOUT is raised. Default to 30s for backwards compat.
+        const timeout = options.timeout || 30000;
+        // Optional virtual corpus restriction (e.g. "pubDate in 2020"). When
+        // set, it is passed as the corpus query (cq) to narrow the search and
+        // keep it fast enough to finish within the timeout.
+        const vc = options.vc || "";
         try {
-            await page.waitForSelector("#q-field", { visible: true });
-            const query_field = await page.$("#q-field");
-            assert.notEqual(query_field, null, "Query field not found");
+            if (vc) {
+                // A VC can't be entered through the query field, so navigate to
+                // the search URL directly with q + cq. The session cookie is
+                // preserved, so the user stays logged in.
+                const url = new URL(this.korap_url);
+                url.searchParams.set('q', query);
+                url.searchParams.set('ql', 'poliqarp');
+                url.searchParams.set('cq', vc);
+                await page.goto(url.href, { waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded', timeout });
+            } else {
+                await page.waitForSelector("#q-field", { visible: true });
+                const query_field = await page.$("#q-field");
+                assert.notEqual(query_field, null, "Query field not found");
 
-            await query_field.click({ clickCount: 3 });
-            await page.keyboard.type(query);
-            await page.keyboard.press("Enter");
+                await query_field.click({ clickCount: 3 });
+                await page.keyboard.type(query);
+                await page.keyboard.press("Enter");
 
-            await page.waitForNavigation({ waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded' });
+                await page.waitForNavigation({ waitUntil: 'domcontentloaded', timeout });
+            }
 
             // Wait until the results page has actually settled, then read the
             // count immediately (no fixed sleep). Kalamar renders the precise
@@ -93,7 +114,7 @@
                 if (total && /\d/.test(total.textContent || '')) return true;
                 if (document.querySelectorAll('#search ol li').length > 0) return true;
                 return document.querySelector('#search .no-results, .no-results') !== null;
-            }, { timeout: 15000, polling: 200 });
+            }, { timeout, polling: 200 });
 
             const hits = await page.evaluate(() => {
                 const total = document.querySelector('#total-results');