Hungaroring WTCC: Yvan Muller leads Saturday practice
World Touring Car champion Yvan Muller set the fastest time in the Saturday practice sessions at the Hungaroring on Saturday
Muller set a benchmark of 1m49.301s in the second session, outpacing Citroen team-mate Jose Maria Lopez, who had been quickest in the morning.
The track was officially declared wet before the start of the day.
However, rain had ceased long before the pitlane opened, leaving only a few noticeable damp patches on the circuit.
Lopez's morning time of 1m49.494s was over a second clear of Muller, and three seconds inside the reigning WTCC champion's 2013 qualifying lap record, set in an S2000 Chevrolet Cruze.
Sebastien Loeb completed a Citroen lock-out of the top three positions with the second fastest time of the second session, albeit over three tenths adrift of his team-mate's best.
Proteam's Mehdi Bennani had led the afternoon session for a lengthy period, but finished 'best of the rest' in fourth, 0.980s behind Muller's benchmark.
Local hero Norbert Michelisz delighted his fans by finishing in fifth in the Zengo Honda ahead of Tom Chilton.
Michelisz suffered a minor off-track moment at Turn 8 on a late effort.
Despite the isolated pools of water, there were relatively few incidents in FP1.
Franz Engstler lost the back end of his rear-wheel drive BMW on the exit of Turn 7, skating across saturated grass and making light contact with the barriers.
TC2 rookie John Filippi continued after an off at Turn 9, and 2009 WTCC champion Gabriele Tarquini also incurred a minor delay by running wide at Turn 5.
Follow WTCC qualifying and both races as they happen on AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live this weekend
Practice 1 Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1. Jose Maria Lopez Citroen 1m49.494s 11 2. Yvan Muller Citroen 1m50.774s +1.280s 14 3. Tom Chilton ROAL Chevrolet 1m50.905s +1.411s 13 4. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m51.071s +1.577s 9 5. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 1m51.155s +1.661s 15 6. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m51.182s +1.688s 11 7. Mehdi Bennani Proteam Honda 1m51.238s +1.744s 12 8. Gianni Morbidelli Munnich Chevrolet 1m51.517s +2.023s 12 9. Dusan Borkovic Campos Chevrolet 1m51.562s +2.068s 12 10. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m51.564s +2.070s 13 11. Hugo Valente Campos Chevrolet 1m51.627s +2.133s 13 12. Rene Munnich Munnich Chevrolet 1m52.122s +2.628s 14 13. Tom Coronel ROML Chevrolet 1m52.287s +2.793s 13 14. Rob Huff Lada 1m52.652s +3.158s 11 15. James Thompson Lada 1m53.182s +3.688s 9 16. Mikhail Kozlowskiy Lada 1m53.457s +3.963s 15 17. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW* 1m55.786s +6.292s 12 18. Pasquale di Sabatino Engstler BMW* 1m57.220s +7.726s 12 19. Yukinori Taniguchi Nika Honda* 1m57.617s +8.123s 14 20. John Filippi Campos SEAT 2m00.159s +10.665s 11 Practice 2 Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1. Yvan Muller Citroen 1m49.301s 11 2. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 1m49.674s +0.373s 10 3. Jose Maria Lopez Citroen 1m50.053s +0.752s 12 4. Mehdi Bennani Proteam Honda 1m50.281s +0.980s 14 5. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m50.344s +1.043s 11 6. Tom Chilton ROAL Chevrolet 1m50.720s +1.419s 13 7. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m50.836s +1.535s 13 8. Tom Coronel ROML Chevrolet 1m51.165s +1.864s 13 9. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m51.228s +1.927s 12 10. Dusan Borkovic Campos Chevrolet 1m51.253s +1.952s 11 11. Gianni Morbidelli Munnich Chevrolet 1m51.717s +2.416s 12 12. Hugo Valente Campos Chevrolet 1m51.899s +2.598s 10 13. Rob Huff Lada 1m52.228s +2.927s 12 14. Rene Munnich Munnich Chevrolet 1m52.243s +2.942s 12 15. James Thompson Lada 1m52.884s +3.583s 10 16. Mikhail Kozlowskiy Lada 1m53.101s +3.800s 12 17. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW* 1m55.948s +6.647s 13 18. Pasquale di Sabatino Engstler BMW* 1m56.067s +6.766s 12 19. John Filippi Campos SEAT 1m57.617s +8.316s 14 20. Yukinori Taniguchi Nika Honda* 1m59.527s +10.226s 8 * TC2
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