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Marrakech WTCC: Muller on top in both practice sessions

Yvan Muller continued his dominant start to his 2013 World Touring Car campaign by topping both practice sessions on the streets of Marrakech

Following his perfect weekend at Monza - where he scored pole position and two race wins - Muller has so far headed every session of the new season save for the cursory Monza warm-up.

He was not without competition however, with RML Chevrolet team-mate Tom Chilton and the two works Hondas running him close in both sessions.

In the first Muller's advantage was just 0.032s over Gabriele Tarquini in the works Civic, with Chilton a further four hundredths of a second down the road.

Muller found massive improvements in the second session - his best of 1m44.991s was over a second faster than his morning equivalent - but again the chasing pack was close.

Chilton led the way, getting to within 0.059s of his stablemate, having been ahead in the split times until the final sector.

Alex MacDowall in the independent Bamboo Cruze was third, one tenth down the road, while Tarquini and his Honda team-mate Tiago Monteiro were also in the mix, both men finishing within four tenths of Muller.

James Thompson showed well for Lada, going fifth and ninth in the respective two sessions.

The Briton had been unable to race at Monza following a qualifying crash with then-team-mate Aleksei Dudukalo, a clash which cost the Russian his drive.

Dudukalo's replacement Mikhail Kozlovskiy was 22nd and 19th in his first two WTCC runs.

Tom Coronel made the top 10 twice in his ROAL BMW 320, while SEAT also had a presence at the front - in the first session courtesy of Campos's Fernando Monje, and in the second via Pepe Oriola.

Defending champion Rob Huff was 15th and 16th respectively in his Munnich-run Leon.

Practice one

Pos Driver                 Team/Car               Time      Gap       Laps
 1. Yvan Muller            RML Chevrolet         1m46.093s             11
 2. Gabriele Tarquini      Honda                 1m46.125s  + 0.032s   12
 3. Tom Chilton            RML Chevrolet         1m46.168s  + 0.075s   10
 4. Norbert Michelisz      Zengo Honda           1m46.601s  + 0.508s   13
 5. James Thompson         Lada                  1m46.702s  + 0.609s   13
 6. Tom Coronel            ROAL BMW              1m46.835s  + 0.742s   14
 7. Michel Nykjaer         NIKA Chevrolet        1m46.975s  + 0.882s   13
 8. Alex MacDowall         Bamboo Chevrolet      1m46.995s  + 0.902s   13
 9. Tiago Monteiro         Honda                 1m47.039s  + 0.946s   13
10. Fernando Monje         Campos SEAT           1m47.347s  + 1.254s   13
11. Stefano D'Aste         PB BMW                1m47.442s  + 1.349s   14
12. James Nash             Bamboo Chevrolet      1m47.442s  + 1.349s   13
13. Marc Basseng           Munnich SEAT          1m47.507s  + 1.414s   14
14. Franz Engstler         Engstler BMW          1m47.954s  + 1.861s   12
15. Robert Huff            Munnich SEAT          1m47.993s  + 1.900s   10
16. Tom Boardman           Special Tuning SEAT   1m48.058s  + 1.965s   10
17. Darryl O'Young         ROAL BMW              1m48.246s  + 2.153s   13
18. Pepe Oriola            Tuenti SEAT           1m48.500s  + 2.407s   11
19. Mehdi Bennani          Proteam BMW           1m48.797s  + 2.704s   15
20. Charles Ng             Engstler BMW          1m49.176s  + 3.083s   14
21. Fredy Barth            Wiechers BMW          1m49.694s  + 3.601s   15
22. Mikhail Kozlovskiy     Lada                  1m50.341s  + 4.248s   15
23. Rene Munnich           Munnich SEAT          1m52.175s  + 6.082s   14

Practice two

Pos Driver                 Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps
 1. Yvan Muller            RML Chevrolet         1m44.991              9
2. Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet 1m45.050s + 0.059s 11
3. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet 1m45.150s + 0.159s 12
4. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m45.280s + 0.289s 12
5. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m45.304s + 0.313s 11
6. Michel Nykjaer NIKA Chevrolet 1m45.429s + 0.438s 13
7. James Nash Bamboo Chevrolet 1m45.925s + 0.934s 12
8. Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT 1m46.023s + 1.032s 8
9. James Thompson Lada 1m46.186s + 1.195s 12
10. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m46.271s + 1.280s 14
11. Fernando Monje Campos SEAT 1m46.756s + 1.765s 13
12. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m46.961s + 1.970s 14
13. Darryl O'Young ROAL BMW 1m46.976s + 1.985s 14
14. Marc Basseng Munnich SEAT 1m47.018s + 2.027s 14
15. Fredy Barth Wiechers BMW 1m47.183s + 2.192s 13
16. Robert Huff Munnich SEAT 1m47.470s + 2.479s 9
17. Stefano D'Aste PB BMW 1m47.602s + 2.611s 12
18. Charles Ng Engstler BMW 1m47.786s + 2.795s 14
19. Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 1m48.540s + 3.549s 11
20. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m48.793s + 3.802s 14
21. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m49.405s + 4.414s 7
22. Rene Munnich Munnich SEAT 1m50.988s + 5.997s 14
23. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m59.189s + 14.198s 5

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