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Pepe Oriola sets the pace in first WTCC practice in Slovakia

Tuenti Racing's Pepe Oriola set the pace in free practice one at the World Touring Car Championship's maiden visit to Slovakia

The Spanish racer set his time at the Hans Roth-designed Slovakia Ring early in the half-hour session, before running off the road in a late effort to improve his benchmark.

The 17-year-old has claimed an Independent's victory in each round this season, and was again on form to hustle his Sunred-prepared Leon to a time of 2m14.434s.

Lukoil Racing's Gabriele Tarquini finished 0.198s adrift of Oriola in his similar Leon WTCC. The Italian held fourth during much of the session, but eclipsed James Nash's Arena Ford Focus for the runner-up position two minutes prior to the chequered flag.

Marrakech reversed-grid pole-sitter Nash, who is running without 30kg of penalty ballast for the first time this season due to changes to the car's suspension, secured third. The Milton-Keynes racer's Arena team-mate Tom Chilton sat out the session with fuel pressure sensor difficulties.

Chilton has a single session of practice available before qualifying this afternoon, as no testing took place at the Slovakia Ring on Friday. The Reigate driver can call on circuit knowledge from his brother Max, who has tested extensively at the venue as part of his GP2 preparations.

Rob Huff was the highest placed of this season's dominant RML factory Chevrolet drivers in fourth, some 0.820s behind Oriola. Team-mates Alain Menu and championship leader Yvan Muller followed in fifth and seventh respectively. More is expected of the Chevrolet men in free practice two.

The top-six was completed by Tarquini's Lukoil Racing team-mate Aleksei Dudukalo. The Russian is aiming to recover ground after a torrid preceding meeting in Marrakech.

The session was red-flagged after 12 minutes when former Formula 1 driver Tiago Monteiro stopped out on track. His Tuenti Leon was recovered to the pits and later rejoined the action.

Hungarian rookie Gabor Weber suffered an early incident to find the gravel in his Zengo Motorsport BMW.

Pos  Driver                Team/Car             Time          Gap  
 1.  Pepe Oriola           Tuenti SEAT          2m13.434s     
 2.  Gabriele Tarquini     Lukoil SEAT          2m13.632s     + 0.198s
 3.  James Nash            Arena Ford           2m13.863s     + 0.429s
 4.  Robert Huff           Chevrolet            2m14.254s     + 0.820s
 5.  Alain Menu            Chevrolet            2m14.671s     + 1.237s
 6.  Aleksei Dudukalo      Lukoil SEAT          2m14.699s     + 1.265s
 7.  Yvan Muller           Chevrolet            2m14.916s     + 1.482s
 8.  Tom Coronel           ROAL BMW             2m15.143s     + 1.709s
 9.  Franz Engstler        Engstler BMW         2m15.401s     + 1.967s
10.  Tiago Monteiro        Tuenti SEAT          2m15.404s     + 1.970s
11.  Norbert Michelisz     Zengo BMW            2m15.603s     + 2.169s
12.  Darryl O'Young        Special Tuning SEAT  2m15.855s     + 2.421s
13.  Tom Boardman          Special Tuning SEAT  2m15.915s     + 2.481s
14.  Mehdi Bennani         Proteam BMW          2m15.918s     + 2.484s
15.  Stefano D'Aste        Wiechers BMW         2m16.357s     + 2.923s
16.  Pasquale di Sabatino  bamboo Chevrolet     2m16.530s     + 3.096s
17.  Alberto Cerqui        ROAL BMW             2m16.617s     + 3.183s
18.  Alex MacDowall        bamboo Chevrolet     2m17.310s     + 3.876s
19.  Charles Ng            Engstler BMW         2m19.041s     + 5.607s
20.  Gabor Weber           Zengo BMW            7m15.347s  + 5m01.913s
21.  Tom Chilton           Arena Ford

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