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Monza WTCC: Yvan Muller fastest in first practice of 2013

Yvan Muller delivered a blistering last-gasp salvo to deny Honda top spot in the opening practice session of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship at Monza

The Frenchman, once again in an RML-run Chevrolet Cruze, had dominated much of the session but was knocked from the top spot when Tiago Monteiro went clear with two minutes to run.

Muller had time to respond, and time in hand, though. With 30 seconds on the clock he came round in a 1m58.078s to restore a comfortable margin at the top of the timesheets.

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While that has been a familiar trait in recent seasons, the order behind him was markedly different.

Honda had two men in the top five, with Monteiro finishing second - seven tenths down on Muller - and Tarquini fifth. Both men elected to run on their own, rather than go for the benefit of a slipstream tow, for the majority of the 30 minutes.

They were separated by the SEAT Leon of Pepe Oriola and the second RML Cruze of Tom Chilton, who was just over two hundredths of a second slower than Monteiro in second.

Defending champion Rob Huff finished 10th fastest for new team Munnich Motorsport, while James Thompson went seventh fastest for Lada.

Tom Coronel meanwhile made it five different manufacturers in the top 10 by going ninth fastest in his ROAL BMW, some 1.6s down on Muller.

Bamboo's Alex MacDowall took Yokohama Trophy class honours in sixth, fractions ahead of Thompson, with class rival and fellow Chevrolet driver Michel Nykjaer eighth.

Pos  Driver                 Team/Car             Time       Gap
 1.  Yvan Muller            RML Chevrolet        1m58.078s
 2.  Tiago Monteiro         Honda                1m58.790s  + 0.712s
 3.  Pepe Oriola            Tuenti SEAT          1m58.791s  + 0.713s
 4.  Tom Chilton            RML Chevrolet        1m58.812s  + 0.734s
 5.  Gabriele Tarquini      Honda                1m59.007s  + 0.929s
 6.  Alex MacDowall         Bamboo Chevrolet     1m59.143s  + 1.065s
 7.  James Thompson         Lada                 1m59.308s  + 1.230s
 8.  Michel Nykjaer         NIKA Chevrolet       1m59.641s  + 1.563s
 9.  Tom Coronel            ROAL BMW             1m59.701s  + 1.623s
10.  Rob Huff               Munnich SEAT         1m59.873s  + 1.795s
11.  Franz Engstler         Engstler BMW         1m59.976s  + 1.898s
12.  Darryl O'Young         ROAL BMW             2m00.037s  + 1.959s
13.  James Nash             Bamboo Chevrolet     2m00.057s  + 1.979s
14.  Tom Boardman           Special Tuning SEAT  2m00.131s  + 2.053s
15.  Marc Basseng           Munnich SEAT         2m00.197s  + 2.119s
16.  Mehdi Bennani          Proteam BMW          2m00.415s  + 2.337s
17.  Stefano d'Aste         PB BMW               2m00.589s  + 2.511s
18.  Fredy Barth            Wiechers BMW         2m00.947s  + 2.869s
19.  Jean-Philippe Dayraut  Anome BMW            2m00.980s  + 2.902s
20.  Aleksei Dudukalo       Lada                 2m01.007s  + 2.929s
21.  Charles Ng             Engstler BMW         2m01.921s  + 3.843s
22.  Rene Munnich           Munnich SEAT         2m02.332s  + 4.254s
23.  Norbert Michelisz      Zengo Honda          2m02.522s  + 4.444s
24.  Fernando Monje         Campos SEAT

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