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Suzuka WTCC: Alain Menu tops practice as new Honda finds pace

Alain Menu led another all-Chevrolet top three in Saturday morning practice for the World Touring Car Championship's Suzuka round

But while the dominant squad again led the way, Tiago Monteiro hinted at the potential of the new Honda and took fourth place.

The JAS-run car was just 0.333 seconds off Menu's 53.855s pace, as the top 17 drivers all lapped within 0.996s in the close session.

Joint points leaders Yvan Muller and Rob Huff were second and third. Muller lost the top spot to Menu by a mere 0.064s.

Monteiro's 2013 Honda team-mate Gabriele Tarquini claimed fifth in the leading SEAT. Pepe Oriola managed to equal Tarquini's time in the closing moments.

Local series returnee Hiroki Yoshimoto was next up, followed by Bamboo Chevrolet duo Darryl O'Young and Alex MacDowall. Aleksei Dudukalo completed the top 10.

The BMWs were all off the pace, with Zengo's Norbert Michelisz the best of the 320 TC pack in 11th.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car             Time     Gap
 1.  Alain Menu         Chevrolet            53.855s
 2.  Yvan Muller        Chevrolet            53.919s  + 0.064s
 3.  Rob Huff           Chevrolet            54.142s  + 0.287s
 4.  Tiago Monteiro     Honda                54.188s  + 0.333s
 5.  Gabriele Tarquini  Lukoil SEAT          54.243s  + 0.388s
 6.  Pepe Oriola        Tuenti SEAT          54.243s  + 0.388s
 7.  Hiroki Yoshimoto   Tuenti SEAT          54.362s  + 0.507s
 8.  Darryl O'Young     Bamboo Chevrolet     54.364s  + 0.509s
 9.  Alex MacDowall     Bamboo Chevrolet     54.444s  + 0.589s
10.  Aleksei Dudukalo   Lukoil SEAT          54.626s  + 0.771s
11.  Norbert Michelisz  Zengo BMW            54.705s  + 0.850s
12.  Tom Coronel        ROAL BMW             54.711s  + 0.856s
13.  Mehdi Bennani      Proteam BMW          54.734s  + 0.879s
14.  Alberto Cerqui     ROAL BMW             54.740s  + 0.885s
15.  James Nash         Arena Ford           54.833s  + 0.978s
16.  Stefano D'Aste     Wiechers BMW         54.835s  + 0.980s
17.  Charles Ng         Engstler BMW         54.851s  + 0.996s
18.  Fernando Monje     Tuenti SEAT          55.076s  + 1.221s
19.  Tom Chilton        Arena Ford           55.118s  + 1.263s
20.  Franz Engstler     Engstler BMW         55.198s  + 1.343s
21.  Tom Boardman       Special Tuning SEAT  55.306s  + 1.451s
22.  Rene Munnich       Special Tuning SEAT  55.349s  + 1.494s
23.  Masaki Kano        Engstler BMW         55.846s  + 1.991s

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