Slovakia Ring WTCC: Lada's Gabriele Tarquini sets testing pace

The 2009 world champion set a best time of 2m04.956s in the final minutes of a trouble-free 30-minute session, and headed Honda's Norbert Michelisz who was 0.211 seconds slower.

Nicky Catsburg was third-fastest in the second Lada Vesta, while Polestar's Thed Bjork - who had led for much of the session - was fourth fastest, three tenths down on Tarquini.

Jose Maria Lopez was the only Citroen driver to feature in the top 10 with fifith.
Factory team-mate Yvan Muller was 11th, while satellite drivers Tom Chilton, Mehdi Bennani and Gregoire Demoustier were 13th, 14th and 15th respectively.

Tiago Monteiro and Hugo Valente were sixth and seventh, while Fredrik Ekblom, Rob Huff and John Filippi completed the top 10.

James Thompson was 16th-quickest on his return to the championship, 2.733s slower than Tarquini in his Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze.

Ferenc Ficza, who will make his WTCC debut this weekend as Zengo Motorsport's sole representative, was slowest of the 17 runners after completing a handful of laps.