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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