Muller tops first Marrakech session

The SEAT driver shaded Alain Menu's Chevrolet Cruze by just four thousandths of a second during the first blast around the high-speed, 4.5km track.

Rickard Rydell's Leon was third quickest, albeit six tenths slower than the lead pair, with Rob Huff continuing a strong start to the weekend for RML's Chevrolets in fourth place.

Four more SEATs followed next, the works cars of Gabriele Tarquini, Jordi Gene and Tiago Monteiro, and the SUNRED car of Tom Coronel. The first of the BMWs was only ninth fastest with Alex Zanardi just ahead of Stefano D'Aste's independent 320si.

Schnitzer's BMWs were only 11th and 12th, Augusto Farfus just ahead of Jorg Muller, with RBM's Andy Priaulx 13th.

Local driver Mehdi Bennani was best of the rest, 14th in his independent SEAT Leon. just ahead of independent championship leader Felix Porteiro's BMW.

Pos Driver                Car         Time          Gap
 1. Yvan Muller           SEAT        1m50.694s
 2. Alain Menu            Chevrolet   1m50.698s  +0.004
 3. Rickard Rydell        SEAT        1m51.345s  +0.651
 4. Rob Huff              Chevrolet   1m51.380s  +0.686
 5. Gabriele Tarquini     SEAT        1m51.425s  +0.731
 6. Jordi Gene            SEAT        1m51.640s  +0.946
 7. Tiago Monteiro        SEAT        1m51.679s  +0.985
 8. Tom Coronel           SEAT        1m51.869s  +1.175
 9. Alex Zanardi          BMW         1m51.998s  +1.304
10. Stefano D'Aste        BMW         1m52.427s  +1.733
11. Augusto Farfus        BMW         1m52.432s  +1.738
12. Jorg Muller           BMW         1m52.864s  +2.170
13. Andy Priaulx          BMW         1m52.903s  +2.209
14. Nicola Larini         Chevrolet   1m52.919s  +2.225
15. Mehdi Bennani         SEAT        1m53.367s  +2.673
16. Felix Porteiro        BMW         1m53.438s  +2.744
17. Vito Postiglione      BMW         1m53.853s  +3.159
18. Sergio Hernandez      BMW         1m53.984s  +3.290
19. Jaap van Lagen        Lada        1m54.130s  +3.436
20. Kristian Poulsen      BMW         1m54.173s  +3.479
21. Franz Engstler        BMW         1m54.188s  +3.494
22. Viktor Shapovalov     Lada        1m55.174s  +4.480
23. George Tanev          BMW         1m55.666s  +4.972
24. Marin Colak           SEAT                  no time
25. Kirill Ladygin        Lada                  no time