Salzburgring WTCC: Jose Maria Lopez tops test for Citroen

The Citroen racer's effort of 1m23.101s was 2.6 seconds inside team-mate Yvan Muller's 2013 qualifying lap record, set in a S2000 spec' Chevrolet Cruze.

Campos Chevrolet driver Hugo Valente ended just 0.027s adrift of Lopez's benchmark to repeat his Slovakia-Ring test and practice session position.

Top honours among the four-car Honda contingent fell to Mehdi Bennani in third. The Proteam driver, who has been sidelined from qualifying in the two previous meetings owing to turbo-related issues, edged out reigning WTCC champion Muller by 0.031s.

The test was red-flagged with a little over three minutes of its scheduled half-hour remaining, when Tom Coronel and Gabriele Tarquini parked up on the back straight.

Earlier in his lap, Coronel had gone straight at the Turn 1 chicane after suffering a punctured front tyre. Tarquini stopped his factory JAS Honda directly behind Coronel's ROAL Cruze, before opening his bonnet to investigate a possible power-steering failure.

The subsequent abandonment of the session secured Lopez's position at the top of the timing screens.

The former TC2000 champion had deposed Bennani at the head of the classification at the two-third mark. The initial pace was set by Muller, thanks to a strong lap of 1m23.281s from cold.

Tarquini's team-mate Tiago Monteiro ended the day fifth, ahead of nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb.

Hungaroring reversed-grid winner Gianni Morbidelli was the fastest runner in the second sector en route to seventh.

The session took place under overcast skies, and rain is forecast prior to qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

Pos Driver                Car                Time       Gap     Laps
 1. Jose Maria Lopez      Citroen            1m23.101s           15
 2. Hugo Valente          Campos Chevrolet   1m23.128s  +0.027s  12
 3. Mehdi Bennani         Proteam Honda      1m23.250s  +0.149s  15
 4. Yvan Muller           Citroen            1m23.281s  +0.180s  16
 5. Tiago Monteiro        Honda              1m23.476s  +0.375s  13
 6. Sebastien Loeb        Citroen            1m23.513s  +0.412s  14
 7. Gianni Morbidelli     Munnich Chevrolet  1m23.672s  +0.571s  13
 8. Norbert Michelisz     Zengo Honda        1m23.784s  +0.683s  13
 9. Tom Chilton           ROAL Chevrolet     1m23.811s  +0.710s  10
10. Tom Coronel           ROAL Chevrolet     1m23.831s  +0.730s  11
11. Gabriele Tarquini     Honda              1m24.030s  +0.929s  12
12. Rene Munnich          Munnich Chevrolet  1m24.606s  +1.505s  14
13. Dusan Borkovic        Campos Chevrolet   1m24.683s  +1.582s   9
14. Rob Huff              Lada               1m25.002s  +1.901s  11
15. James Thompson        Lada               1m25.323s  +2.222s   8
16. Mikhail Kozlovskiy    Lada               1m25.668s  +2.567s  14
17. Franz Engstler        Engstler BMW       1m27.501s  +4.400s  14
18. Pasquale di Sabatino  Engstler BMW       1m28.829s  +5.728s  14
19. John Filippi          Campos SEAT        1m30.482s  +7.381s  11