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WTCC Hungaroring: Huff and Michelisz top free practice sessions

Rob Huff and Norbert Michelisz set the pace in the respective first and second World Touring Car Championship practice sessions at the Hungaroring as wet conditions set in

Briton Huff set the fastest time of all in the best of the conditions on offer during the morning's first 45-minute practice session in his Citroen C-Elysee, recording a best lap of 1m50.609s.

The Munnich Motorsport driver caught a brief dry spell in the middle of the session, which began with damp on-track conditions, to beat Honda's Tiago Monteiro to top spot by 0.067 seconds before the rain returned.

A further rain shower between the sessions meant the track was declared wet ahead of second practice, but with conditions expected to be similar in Saturday afternoon's qualifying session plenty of drivers headed out early on for runs.

Championship leader Monteiro was the early pacesetter in his Civic, before being usurped by team-mate and home favourite Michelisz 15 minutes in.

Even with a red flag - thrown when Aurelien Panis stopped on track at the chicane - punctuating proceedings, Michelisz wasted little time when the session resumed as he lowered his benchmark to a 2m03.646s.

Michelisz, who was hampered by an oil pressure problem in first practice, might well have gone faster still on his final flying lap, but was forced to abort his run when Nicky Catsburg stopped on track and brought the session to a premature end.

Monteiro was once again second fastest, ending the session 0.192s slower than his team-mate, with the independent RC Motorsport Lada Vesta of Yann Ehrlacher an impressive third.

Huff ended up best of the Citroens in the second session in fourth ahead of the third factory Civic of Ryo Michigami.

Despite his on-track stoppage, Catsburg was the best-placed of the Volvos in sixth. Team-mates Nestor Girolami and Thed Bjork were 10th and 15th respectively.

FREE PRACTICE 1:

Pos Driver Team Car Time
1 Rob Huff Munnich Motorsport Citroen 1m50.609s
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m50.676s
3 Thed Bjork Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 1m50.885s
4 Esteban Guerrieri Campos Racing Chevrolet 1m51.039s
5 Nicky Catsburg Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 1m51.077s
6 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 1m51.080s
7 Tom Chilton Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 1m51.362s
8 Nestor Girolami Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 1m51.427s
9 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 1m51.791s
10 Ryo Michigami Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m52.231s
11 Yann Ehrlacher RC Motorsport Lada 1m52.301s
12 Aurelien Panis Zengo Motorsport Honda 1m52.501s
13 John Filippi Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 1m52.691s
14 Kevin Gleason RC Motorsport Lada 1m53.148s
15 Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 1m55.820s
16 Daniel Nagy Zengo Motorsport Honda 2m15.440s

FREE PRACTICE 2:

Pos Driver Team Car Time
1 Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 2m03.646s
2 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 2m03.838s
3 Yann Ehrlacher RC Motorsport Lada 2m04.313s
4 Rob Huff Munnich Motorsport Citroen 2m04.541s
5 Ryo Michigami Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 2m04.852s
6 Nicky Catsburg Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 2m04.894s
7 Tom Chilton Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 2m05.129s
8 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 2m05.158s
9 Daniel Nagy Zengo Motorsport Honda 2m05.521s
10 Nestor Girolami Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 2m05.531s
11 Esteban Guerrieri Campos Racing Chevrolet 2m05.532s
12 Kevin Gleason RC Motorsport Lada 2m05.857s
13 John Filippi Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 2m05.945s
14 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 2m06.225s
15 Thed Bjork Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 2m07.269s
16 Aurelien Panis Zengo Motorsport Honda 2m07.379s

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Previous article Monza WTCC: Bjork's Volvo defeats Monteiro's Honda in race two
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