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Vila Real WTCC: Jose Maria Lopez and Rob Huff lead practice

Citroen's Jose Maria was fastest across Saturday's Vila Real World Touring Car Championship practice sessions, beating Honda's contingent in second practice after Rob Huff had set the earlier pace

Lopez was overshadowed by the three Hondas in the opening session, finishing fourth and a second and a half down off the pace, but struck back in the second to set the fastest time of the weekend so far, a 1m56.365s.

That left the Argentinian 0.334s clear of Norbert Michelisz, who finished both sessions in second in his Civic.

Michelisz's team-mate Tiago Monteiro backed up his third-fastest time in the first session with the same result in second practice, the Portuguese 0.150s behind his team-mate at his home venue.

Yvan Muller in the second factory Citroen and Polestar's Thed Bjork separated Huff in the third Honda from his team-mates.

Huff led a Honda 1-2-3 in Saturday morning's first session, but was quieter in the second and finished the best part of a second down on Lopez's benchmark, four tenths slower than his practice one pace.

Tom Coronel was seventh in the second session and best of the independent drivers ahead of the leading Lada of Nicky Catsburg.

Catsburg's team-mate Hugo Valente was a strong fifth in the first session, but finished a second back from him in the second in 12th, with Mehdi Bennani, James Thompson (making his fourth appearance of the season for Munnich Motorsport) and Tom Chilton separating the pair.

Zengo Motorsport's debutant Daniel Nagy completed his first laps in the WTCC in the first session, but sat out the second with a suspected throttle sensor issue.

PRACTICE ONE

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Rob Huff Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m56.941s - 13
2 Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m57.188s 0.247s 11
3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m57.405s 0.464s 11
4 Jose Maria Lopez Citroen Racing Citroen 1m58.436s 1.495s 12
5 Hugo Valente LADA Sport Lada 1m58.507s 1.566s 10
6 Yvan Muller Citroen Racing Citroen 1m58.639s 1.698s 13
7 Thed Bjork Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 1m59.103s 2.162s 10
8 Tom Chilton Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 1m59.330s 2.389s 10
9 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 1m59.427s 2.486s 11
10 Nicky Catsburg LADA Sport Lada 1m59.651s 2.710s 11
11 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 2m00.305s 3.364s 11
12 John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet 2m00.415s 3.474s 11
13 Robert Dahlgren Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 2m00.488s 3.547s 12
14 James Thompson Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet 2m00.623s 3.682s 10
15 Gabriele Tarquini LADA Sport Lada 2m00.680s 3.739s 10
16 Ferenc Ficza Zengo Motorsport Honda 2m01.942s 5.001s 11
17 Gregoire Demoustier Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 2m02.183s 5.242s 13
18 Daniel Nagy Zengo Motorsport Honda - - 2

PRACTICE TWO

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Jose Maria Lopez Citroen Racing Citroen 1m56.365s - 10
2 Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m56.699s 0.334s 12
3 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m56.865s 0.500s 13
4 Yvan Muller Citroen Racing Citroen 1m56.926s 0.561s 6
5 Thed Bjork Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 1m57.061s 0.696s 11
6 Rob Huff Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m57.340s 0.975s 11
7 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 1m58.069s 1.704s 11
8 Nicky Catsburg LADA Sport Lada 1m58.264s 1.899s 11
9 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 1m58.271s 1.906s 12
10 James Thompson Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet 1m58.455s 2.090s 11
11 Tom Chilton Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 1m58.613s 2.248s 11
12 Hugo Valente LADA Sport Lada 1m59.312s 2.947s 9
13 Robert Dahlgren Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 2m00.049s 3.684s 12
14 Ferenc Ficza Zengo Motorsport Honda 2m00.055s 3.690s 10
15 John Filippi Campos Racing Chevrolet 2m00.935s 4.570s 7
16 Gregoire Demoustier Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 2m01.416s 5.051s 12
17 Gabriele Tarquini LADA Sport Lada - - 1
18 Daniel Nagy Zengo Motorsport Honda - - 0

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