Moscow WTCC: Tom Coronel fastest for BMW in practice one
Tom Coronel survived a spin to put BMW on top in the first official World Touring Car practice session at Moscow Raceway
Rob Huff edged out former team-mate Yvan Muller to put his SEAT second, while in a remarkably close session the top 16 drivers were covered by less than one second.
It was Coronel who claimed top spot, the Dutchman going clear at the session's halfway mark with a 1m43.574s that remained unbeaten over the final 15 minutes.
Moments after setting that time he then became the session's first spinner when he lost the rear of his ROAL BMW at Turn 14, heading onto the back straight.
It was one of a number of incidents of a green track surface, with Muller, his RML team-mate Tom Chilton, Michel Nykjaer, Marc Basseng, Charles Ng and WTCC newcomer Nikolay Karamyshev all having moments.
Stefano D'Aste was another caught out, sending his PB Racing BMW into the Turn 10 barriers and bringing out yellow flags that contributed to limited improvements in the final minutes.
Honda's Gabriele Tarquini, for example, had set a new overall best in the first sector, only to lose time as the yellows waved for D'Aste's incident.
The Italian, who had set the early pace, had to settle for sixth, behind RML's Tom Chilton and the Proteam BMW of Mehdi Bennani.
Nykjaer, another to enjoy a spell at the top of the timesheets, dropped to seventh at the flag, ahead of Norbert Michelisz in the Zengo Honda, works stablemate Tiago Monteiro and Karamyshev, standing in for Hugo Valente at Campos.
Lada's James Thompson was a regular top 10 runner until being bumped down to 11th in the final minutes.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m43.574s 15 2. Rob Huff Munnich SEAT 1m43.703s + 0.129s 9 3. Yvan Muller RML Chevrolet 1m43.794s + 0.220s 12 4. Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet 1m43.798s + 0.224s 12 5. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m43.807s + 0.233s 15 6. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m43.888s + 0.314s 14 7. Michel Nykjaer Nika Chevrolet 1m43.928s + 0.354s 15 8. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m44.066s + 0.492s 13 9. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m44.219s + 0.645s 11 10. Nikolai Karamyshev Campos SEAT 1m44.232s + 0.658s 12 11. James Thompson Lada 1m44.282s + 0.708s 12 12. Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT 1m44.282s + 0.708s 12 13. Darryl O'Young ROAL BMW 1m44.283s + 0.709s 14 14. Stefano D'Aste PB BMW 1m44.367s + 0.793s 10 15. Fredy Barth Wiechers BMW 1m44.433s + 0.859s 15 16. James Nash Bamboo Chevrolet 1m44.538s + 0.964s 15 17. Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 1m44.645s + 1.071s 14 18. Charles Ng Engstler BMW 1m44.652s + 1.078s 16 19. Fernando Monje Campos SEAT 1m44.913s + 1.339s 14 20. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m44.983s + 1.409s 15 21. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet 1m45.044s + 1.470s 15 22. Marc Basseng Munnich SEAT 1m45.179s + 1.605s 14 23. Rene Munnich Munnich SEAT 1m45.554s + 1.980s 14
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