Buriram WTCC: Norbert Michelisz leads Saturday in Zengo Honda
Honda driver Norbert Michelisz posted the fastest time of testing and practice on Saturday ahead of the first ever World Touring Car Championship races in Thailand at the Buriram circuit
The Hungarian topped the test session in the morning, and his 1m38.260s lap remained unbeaten during the two practice sessions held at the end of the day.
Michelisz was 0.148 seconds ahead of Lada driver Nicolas Lapierre, with Sebastien Loeb over half a second back in the quickest Citroen in third.
Tom Chilton ended the day fourth fastest after leading second practice with a 1m38.881s lap set with just over five minutes remaining.
Gabriele Tarquini took second place in the session with a deficit of 0.078s to the British Chevrolet racer, and led fellow Honda drivers Michelisz and Tiago Monteiro.
Mehdi Bennani was the top Citroen in fifth ahead of the Campos Racing Chevrolet duo of Hugo Valente (who familiarised himself with the circuit by taking part in last weekend's TCR races) and John Filippi.
Jose Maria Lopez, who is likely to wrap up his second WTCC title this weekend, led the slower first practice session and much of the second but was pushed back to eighth by the late improvements of others.
Lapierre caused an early end to first practice when he found the tyre barrier at Turn 3, but the Lada mechanics were able to get him back out before the end of the second session.
The later session enabled the drivers to sample the twilight conditions in which race two will take place on Sunday, when qualifying and the two races will be held on the same day.
TEST SESSION:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 1m38.260s | - | 12 |
| 2 | Nicolas Lapierre | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m38.408s | 0.148s | 13 |
| 3 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m38.855s | 0.595s | 12 |
| 4 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m38.956s | 0.696s | 12 |
| 5 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m38.970s | 0.710s | 14 |
| 6 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m38.980s | 0.720s | 12 |
| 7 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m39.060s | 0.800s | 12 |
| 8 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1m39.119s | 0.859s | 14 |
| 9 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m39.515s | 1.255s | 13 |
| 10 | Ma Qinghua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m39.547s | 1.287s | 12 |
| 11 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m39.815s | 1.555s | 11 |
| 12 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m39.959s | 1.699s | 13 |
| 13 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m40.142s | 1.882s | 12 |
| 14 | Rob Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m40.593s | 2.333s | 14 |
| 15 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m40.616s | 2.356s | 11 |
| 16 | Tin Sritrai | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m40.762s | 2.502s | 14 |
| 17 | Gregoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | 1m40.806s | 2.546s | 13 |
| 18 | Stefano D'Aste | All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m40.878s | 2.618s | 13 |
PRACTICE ONE:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m40.074s | - | 9 |
| 2 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1m40.373s | 0.299s | 12 |
| 3 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m40.623s | 0.549s | 9 |
| 4 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 1m40.636s | 0.562s | 11 |
| 5 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m40.886s | 0.812s | 9 |
| 6 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m40.986s | 0.912s | 10 |
| 7 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m41.105s | 1.031s | 9 |
| 8 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m41.223s | 1.149s | 7 |
| 9 | Ma Qinghua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m41.513s | 1.439s | 10 |
| 10 | Rob Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m41.529s | 1.455s | 11 |
| 11 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m41.634s | 1.560s | 9 |
| 12 | Stefano D'Aste | All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m41.942s | 1.868s | 11 |
| 13 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m41.967s | 1.893s | 10 |
| 14 | Nicolas Lapierre | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m42.057s | 1.983s | 9 |
| 15 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m43.151s | 3.077s | 7 |
| 16 | Gregoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | 1m42.354s | 2.280s | 11 |
| 17 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m42.355s | 2.281s | 9 |
| 18 | Tin Sritrai | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m42.503s | 2.429s | 10 |
PRACTICE TWO:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m38.881s | - | 12 |
| 2 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m38.959s | 0.078s | 12 |
| 3 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 1m39.013s | 0.132s | 14 |
| 4 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m39.058s | 0.177s | 11 |
| 5 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1m39.249s | 0.368s | 14 |
| 6 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m39.341s | 0.460s | 12 |
| 7 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m39.346s | 0.465s | 11 |
| 8 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m39.398s | 0.517s | 11 |
| 9 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m39.463s | 0.582s | 13 |
| 10 | Gregoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | 1m39.523s | 0.642s | 10 |
| 11 | Ma Qinghua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m39.682s | 0.801s | 13 |
| 12 | Rob Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m39.761s | 0.880s | 15 |
| 13 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m39.975s | 1.094s | 12 |
| 14 | Nicolas Lapierre | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m39.990s | 1.109s | 3 |
| 15 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m40.135s | 1.254s | 14 |
| 16 | Stefano D'Aste | All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m40.147s | 1.266s | 14 |
| 17 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m40.183s | 1.302s | 15 |
| 18 | Tin Sritrai | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m40.712s | 1.831s | 12 |
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