Salzburgring WTCC: Yvan Muller stays on top in practice two

The Frenchman was once again able to dip under lap record pace, setting a 1m26.344s just five minutes from the end of the session.

It was not all smooth for the championship leader however. Minutes earlier he got crossed up entering the Turn 1 chicane and was unable to prevent his RML Chevrolet from snapping round and spinning onto the exit grass.

That incident, coming just moments after Norbert Michelisz sloughed through a tyre stack at the same corner, prompted a short red flag period in order for marshals to fix the damage.

Muller was one of the few drivers able to improve when the session resumed.

Defending champion and Hungary race-winner Rob Huff did likewise to move into second in his Munnich-run SEAT, while Gabriele Tarquini - Muller's closest championship challenger - found gains but could only slot into fifth.

James Nash, who had been fastest at the midway point, claimed third, albeit some six tenths of a second down on Muller.

Chevrolet drivers Tom Chilton (RML) and Alex MacDowall (Bamboo) sandwiched Tarquini in fourth and sixth respectively.

Pepe Oriola once again put his Tuenti SEAT seventh, finishing as the last man to get within one second of Muller's benchmark.

Tiago Monteiro in the second works Honda and Michel Nykjaer's Nika Chevrolet were eighth and ninth, with Franz Engstler the top BMW in 10th.

Lada's James Thompson, 10th in the first session, did not go out in the second.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car          Time       Gap
 1.  Yvan Muller         RML Chevrolet     1m26.344s
 2.  Rob Huff            Munnich SEAT      1m26.928s  + 0.584s
 3.  James Nash          Bamboo Chevrolet  1m26.995s  + 0.651s
 4.  Tom Chilton         RML Chevrolet     1m27.054s  + 0.710s
 5.  Gabriele Tarquini   Honda             1m27.200s  + 0.856s
 6.  Alex MacDowall      Bamboo Chevrolet  1m27.212s  + 0.868s
 7.  Pepe Oriola         Tuenti SEAT       1m27.311s  + 0.967s
 8.  Tiago Monteiro      Honda             1m27.426s  + 1.082s
 9.  Michel Nykjaer      Nika Chevrolet    1m27.447s  + 1.103s
10.  Franz Engstler      Engstler BMW      1m27.510s  + 1.166s
11.  Tom Coronel         ROAL BMW          1m27.628s  + 1.284s
12.  Norbert Michelisz   Zengo Honda       1m27.654s  + 1.310s
13.  Marc Basseng        Munnich SEAT      1m27.812s  + 1.468s
14.  Mehdi Bennani       Proteam BMW       1m27.949s  + 1.605s
15.  Hugo Valente        Campos SEAT       1m28.015s  + 1.671s
16.  Fredy Barth         Wiechers BMW      1m28.027s  + 1.683s
17.  Charles Ng          Engstler BMW      1m28.169s  + 1.825s
18.  Fernando Monje      Campos SEAT       1m28.312s  + 1.968s
19.  Stefano D'Aste      PB BMW            1m28.435s  + 2.091s
20.  Mikhail Kozlovskiy  Lada              1m28.626s  + 2.282s
21.  Darryl O'Young      ROAL BMW          1m28.722s  + 2.378s
22.  Rene Munnich        Munnich SEAT      1m29.890s  + 3.546s
23.  James Thompson      Lada