SEAT dominates Marrakech practice

The five factory turbo diesel Leons filled the first five places in both sessions, with Rydell just edging out Muller in the quicker morning run.

Gabriele Tarquini was the only driver to join Rydell and Muller in the 1m49s, with Jordi Gene and Tiago Monteiro a couple of tenths further back.

Times were slower in the afternoon session as most drivers elected not use a new set of tyres, and Muller led the way from Tarquini, Gene, Monteiro and Rydell.

Tom Coronel was just two tenths shy of the works cars by the end of practice in his independent, petrol-powered Leon, while the Chevrolet Cruze proved to be the closest challenger to SEAT's domination.

Alain Menu was sixth this morning and seventh this afternoon, with his team-mates Rob Huff and Nicola Larini taking a turn each to join him inside the top 10.

No BMW has been within one second of the front-running pace all day, with Jorg Muller closest in eighth place this morning.

The quickest BMW this afternoon was the independent car of Franz Engstler in ninth, with Muller 10th and again the fastest of the works cars.

Free practice 1:

Pos Driver               Car         Time          Gap
 1. Rickard Rydell       SEAT        1m49.641s
 2. Yvan Muller          SEAT        1m49.765s  +0.124
 3. Gabriele Tarquini    SEAT        1m49.881s  +0.240
 4. Jordi Gene           SEAT        1m50.013s  +0.372
 5. Tiago Monteiro       SEAT        1m50.211s  +0.570
 6. Alain Menu           Chevrolet   1m50.286s  +0.645
 7. Tom Coronel          SEAT        1m50.688s  +1.047
 8. Jorg Muller          BMW         1m50.708s  +1.067
 9. Nicola Larini        Chevrolet   1m51.154s  +1.513
10. Stefano D'Aste       BMW         1m51.284s  +1.643
11. Mehdi Bennani        SEAT        1m51.402s  +1.761
12. Rob Huff             Chevrolet   1m51.403s  +1.762
13. Augusto Farfus       BMW         1m51.496s  +1.855
14. Andy Priaulx         BMW         1m51.668s  +2.027
15. Marin Colak          SEAT        1m51.771s  +2.130
16. Alex Zanardi         BMW         1m51.933s  +2.292
17. Felix Porteiro       BMW         1m52.031s  +2.390
18. Kristian Poulsen     BMW         1m52.139s  +2.498
19. Franz Engstler       BMW         1m52.353s  +2.712
20. Vito Postiglione     BMW         1m52.382s  +2.741
21. Kirill Ladygin       LADA        1m52.816s  +3.175
22. Jaap van Lagen       LADA        1m52.937s  +3.296
23. Sergio Hernandez     BMW         1m52.953s  +3.312
24. Viktor Shapovalov    LADA        1m53.121s  +3.480
25. George Tanev         BMW         1m53.932s  +4.291

Free practice 2:

Pos Driver               Car         Time         Gap
 1. Yvan Muller          SEAT        1m50.462s
 2. Gabriele Tarquini    SEAT        1m50.627s  +0.165
 3. Jordi Gene           SEAT        1m50.725s  +0.263
 4. Tiago Monteiro       SEAT        1m50.825s  +0.363
 5. Rickard Rydell       SEAT        1m51.043s  +0.581
 6. Tom Coronel          SEAT        1m51.232s  +0.770
 7. Alain Menu           Chevrolet   1m51.250s  +0.788
 8. Rob Huff             Chevrolet   1m51.482s  +1.020
 9. Franz Engstler       BMW         1m51.604s  +1.142
10. Jorg Muller          BMW         1m51.713s  +1.251
11. Nicola Larini        Chevrolet   1m51.746s  +1.284
12. Andy Priaulx         BMW         1m51.822s  +1.360
13. Alex Zanardi         BMW         1m51.861s  +1.399
14. Augusto Farfus       BMW         1m51.884s  +1.422
15. Stefano D'Aste       BMW         1m52.053s  +1.591
16. Mehdi Bennani        SEAT        1m52.148s  +1.686
17. Jaap van Lagen       Lada        1m52.560s  +2.098
18. Sergio Hernandez     BMW         1m53.449s  +2.987
19. Kristian Poulsen     BMW         1m53.484s  +3.022
20. Marin Colak          SEAT        1m53.720s  +3.258
21. Viktor Shapovalov    Lada        1m54.200s  +3.738
22. Kirill Ladygin       Lada        1m54.505s  +4.043
23. George Tanev         BMW         1m54.896s  +4.434
24. Felix Porteiro       BMW         1m55.275s  +4.813
25. Vito Postiglione     BMW         1m55.609s  +5.147