WTCC Nordschleife testing: Jose Maria Lopez leads Cirtoen 1-2-3

In a test before the WTCC's maiden race on the 15-mile circuit on May 16, it was a Citroen 1-2-3, with Lopez's time of 8m38.027s more than two seconds faster than his nearest challenger.

Sebastien Loeb and Ma Qing Hua traded places late in the session as times improved, with Loeb eventually taking second with an 8m40.517s.

Gabriele Tarquini was fourth in his Honda, ahead of Yvan Muller in the fourth factory Citroen and the Chevrolets of Hugo Valente and Tom Chilton.

James Thompson was the best of the Ladas in ninth, 11 seconds off the pace in a spread-out field.

Prominent Nordschleife racer Sabine Schmitz was 13th in the Chevrolet she'll use for her WTCC debut at the circuit.

The 18 drivers to log times included several anomalies ahead of this weekend's round in Hungary.

Mehdi Bennani drove an Audi TT rather than his regular Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen, while Norbert Michelisz was in a SEAT and not his Honda.

Testing times:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                Time/Gap  Laps
 1.  Jose Maraa Lopez     Citroen                8m38.027s    18
 2.  Sebastien Loeb       Citroen                   +2.49s    22
 3.  Ma Qing Hua          Citroen                   +3.46s    17
 4.  Gabriele Tarquini    Honda                     +4.76s    13
 5.  Yvan Muller          Citroen                   +5.61s    18
 6.  Hugo Valente         Campos Chevrolet          +6.55s     7
 7.  Tom Chilton          ROAL Chevrolet            +8.65s     6
 8.  Tiago Monteiro       Honda                     +9.85s    13
 9.  James Thompson       Lada                     +11.40s     4
10.  John Filippi         Campos Chevrolet         +14.48s     9
11.  Stefano D'aste       Munnich Chevrolet        +17.77s    13
12.  Rob Huff             Lada                     +22.54s     2
13.  Sabine Schmitz       Munnich Chevrolet        +23.01s     7
14.  Mehdi Bennani        Audi TT                  +23.66s    16
15.  Norbert Michelisz    Zengo SEAT               +26.23s    10
16.  Gregoire Demoustier  Craft-Bamboo Chevrolet   +32.11s    11
17.  Stefano D'aste       Munnich Chevrolet        +56.84s     6
18.  Mikhail Kozlovskiy   Lada                    +1m19.6s    16