Motegi WTCC: Gabriele Tarquini's Honda fastest on Friday
Honda started its home World Touring Car Championship weekend with a fastest time for works driver Gabriele Tarquini in Friday's test at Motegi
The Civic WTCCs filled the top three places with Tarquini, Zengo driver Norbert Michelisz and second factory runner Tiago Monteiro going into the closing moments, before reigning champion Jose Maria Lopez got his Citroen among them in third.
The rest of the Citroens were more low-key, with Lopez's title rival Yvan Muller back in ninth and Sebastien Loeb two places further up.
Nicky Catsburg was top Lada driver in fifth overall, three places ahead of team-mate Rob Huff.
Le Mans 24 Hours LMP2 winner Nicolas Lapierre started his WTCC career with 12th place in his first official session in Lada's #47 Vesta.
None of the Chevrolets made it into the top 10, with ROAL driver Tom Coronel the best of the Cruzes in 11th.
The Japanese round marks the WTCC's resumption after a two-month summer break, and starts a string of flyaway races for the season's run-in, followed by Chinese Grand Prix Formula 1 venue Shanghai and debuts at the Buriram track in Thailand and Qatari MotoGP circuit Losail.
FRIDAY TEST TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m57.146s | - | 9 |
| 2 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 1m57.659s | 0.513s | 11 |
| 3 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m57.669s | 0.523s | 11 |
| 4 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m57.792s | 0.646s | 9 |
| 5 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m58.075s | 0.929s | 12 |
| 6 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1m58.152s | 1.006s | 13 |
| 7 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m58.169s | 1.023s | 10 |
| 8 | Rob Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m58.714s | 1.568s | 12 |
| 9 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m58.852s | 1.706s | 12 |
| 10 | Ma Qinghua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1m58.966s | 1.820s | 12 |
| 11 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m59.077s | 1.931s | 10 |
| 12 | Nicolas Lapierre | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1m59.358s | 2.212s | 12 |
| 13 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1m59.371s | 2.225s | 11 |
| 14 | Stefano D'Aste | All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m59.711s | 2.565s | 11 |
| 15 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 2m00.104s | 2.958s | 7 |
| 16 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2m00.228s | 3.082s | 8 |
| 17 | Gregoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | 2m01.419s | 4.273s | 12 |
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