Farfus leads first practice in Japan

The Brazilian, who held the top spot on the timesheets virtually from the word go, finished with a best lap of 1:38.575, putting him just over 0.7 seconds clear of his Schnitzer BMW teammate Jorg Muller.

It was a quiet start for the championship contenders, though. Main protagonists Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller finished seventh and eighth respectively in their SEATs, while Chevrolet's Rob Huff and BMW's Andy Priaulx, both of whom remain mathematically in contention, were fifth and ninth.

James Thompson continued N.Technology's recent run of good form by going third-fastest in Honda's backyard, edging out Rickard Rydell's SEAT.

Current Independents' Trophy points leader Sergio Hernandez put his Proteam BMW into sixth spot between Huff and Tarquini, with Alain Menu finishing behind Priaulx to complete the top 10 for Chevrolet.

The session passed mostly without incident, although the Russian Bears Motorsport team has some work to do after the bonnets on the Ladas of Jaap van Lagen and Victor Shapovalov flew off while they were on their out laps.

Pos  Driver              Car                  Time
 1.  Augusto Farfus      BMW 320si            1:37.260
 2.  Jorg Muller         BMW 320si            1:38.001  + 0.741
 3.  James Thompson      Honda Accord Euro R  1:38.040  + 0.780
 4.  Rickard Rydell      SEAT Leon TDI        1:38.192  + 0.932
 5.  Robert Huff         Chevrolet Lacetti    1:38.276  + 1.016
 6.  Sergio Hernandez    BMW 320si            1:38.333  + 1.073
 7.  Gabriele Tarquini   SEAT Leon TDI        1:38.362  + 1.102
 8.  Yvan Muller         SEAT Leon TDI        1:38.374  + 1.114
 9.  Andy Priaulx        BMW 320si            1:38.398  + 1.138
10.  Alain Menu          Chevrolet Lacetti    1:38.435  + 1.175
11.  Alessandro Zanardi  BMW 320si            1:38.553  + 1.293
12.  Takayuki Aoki       BMW 320si            1:38.599  + 1.339
13.  Stefano D'Aste      BMW 320si            1:38.606  + 1.346
14.  Jordi Gene          SEAT Leon TDI        1:38.629  + 1.369
15.  Tiago Monteiro      SEAT Leon TDI        1:38.660  + 1.400
16.  Franz Engstler      BMW 320si            1:38.663  + 1.403
17.  Felix Porteiro      BMW 320si            1:38.860  + 1.600
18.  Norbert Michelisz   SEAT Leon            1:39.384  + 2.124
19.  Tom Coronel         SEAT Leon            1:39.461  + 2.201
20.  Nicola Larini       Chevrolet Lacetti    1:39.476  + 2.216
21.  Manabu Orido        Chevrolet Lacetti    1:39.573  + 2.313
22.  Ibrahim Okyay       BMW 320si            1:40.378  + 3.118
23.  Yukinori Taniguchi  Honda Accord Euro R  1:40.610  + 3.350
24.  Matthew Marsh       BMW 320si            1:40.760  + 3.500
25.  Andrey Romanov      BMW 320si            1:40.913  + 3.653
26.  Kirill Ladygin      Lada 110             1:40.970  + 3.710
27.  Masaki Kano         BMW 320i             1:42.641  + 5.381
28.  Melvin Choo         BMW 320si            1:44.347  + 7.087
29.  Viktor Shapovalov   Lada 110
30.  Jaap Van Lagen      Lada 110