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Chevrolet drivers quickest in Monza WTCC test

Reigning world champion Chevrolet set the pace in testing at Monza's opening round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship

Yvan Muller kicked off his title defence by recording the fastest time of the day in the fifth of five one-hour sessions.

The Frenchman's time of 1m58.022s was just 0.013s quicker than RML Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff. Confirming that the Cruze contingent would not be pegged back by an extra 40kg of success ballast imposed for the first races. The third member of the RML line-up Alain Menu completed the top three.

Each of the trio had the honour of setting the fastest time in one of this morning's three sessions.

"We're very satisfied that we completed our programme, and the extra 40kg of weight didn't seem to affect our tyre wear unduly," said Chevrolet Europe's Motorsport manager Eric Neve.

In the afternoon, the factory cars sat out the fourth session, but a Cruze still came out on top. WTCC debutant Alex MacDowall claimed the honour of heading the timesheets on 1m59.415s.

Gabriele Tarquini was best non-Cruze runner in the afternoon in his Lukoil SEAT Leon. The Italian finished in fourth spot, 0.621s adrift of Muller's benchmark.

A further two Chevrolets completed the top six in the final session, Swedish championship frontrunner Rickard Rydell heading MacDowall.

On home soil for his ROAL Motorsport team, Tom Coronel took seventh.

Team Aon's Ford Focus was hit by minor gremlins on its much anticipated WTCC debut. James Nash's car, which had arrived at Monza having only completed a shakedown, suffered from wheel sensor and engine problems. In the final session, Nash completed four laps.

Qualifying starts at 14:30, local time, on Saturday. The opening race is scheduled for 13:20 on Sunday.

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