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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