Suzuka WTCC: Yvan Muller fastest on Friday for RML Chevrolet
Yvan Muller beat fellow Chevrolet man Pepe Oriola and Honda's Tiago Monteiro to set the pace in World Touring Car Championship testing at Suzuka
The Frenchman, who enters the weekend on the brink of sealing a fourth WTCC crown, leapt to the top five minutes from the end of a session that was disrupted by three red flags.
His 54.081s was just enough to keep the RML Cruze in front - Oriola came within 0.022s of denying him in the final minutes - but still some way short of Alain Menu's 2012 pole time of 52.885s.
Muller and Oriola's late moves denied Honda top spot at its home track, with Montiero having to settle for third, one tenth of a second down the road.
Lada's James Thompson beat defending champion Rob Huff to fourth, with Gabriele Tarquini edging James Nash and Sonoma race-winner Tom Chilton for sixth.
Less than a quarter of a second covered the top eight drivers.
Takuya Izawa was fastest of the weekend's nine newcomers, putting his works Honda 17th overall and within one second of Muller.
Yukinori Taniguchi in the Wiechers BMW was next best in 23rd, just behind the second Lada of Mikhail Kozlovskiy.
The Russian triggered one of three stoppages when he slid into the gravel at Turn 7 midway through the 30 minutes.
Filipe de Souza, competing in a China Dragon Chevrolet, caused the first when he went off at Turn 8 just four minutes into the session.
Norbert Michelisz replicated that off seven minutes from the end, losing his Zengo Honda under braking for the final turn.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Yvan Muller RML Chevrolet 54.081s 2. Pepe Oriola Tuenti Chevrolet 54.103s +0.022s 3. Tiago Monteiro Honda 54.187s +0.106s 4. James Thompson Lada 54.220s +0.139s 5. Rob Huff Munnich SEAT 54.261s +0.180s 6. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 54.262s +0.181s 7. James Nash Bamboo Chevrolet 54.304s +0.223s 8. Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet 54.317s +0.236s 9. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 54.346s +0.265s 10. Stefano D'Aste PB BMW 54.489s +0.408s 11. Darryl O'Young ROAL BMW 54.489s +0.408s 12. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 54.556s +0.475s 13. Fernando Monje Campos SEAT 54.614s +0.533s 14. Hiroki Yoshimoto Nika Chevrolet 54.656s +0.575s 15. Marc Basseng Munnich SEAT 54.715s +0.634s 16. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet 54.777s +0.696s 17. Takuya Izawa Honda 54.963s +0.882s 18. Charles Ng Engstler BMW 55.031s +0.950s 19. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 55.042s +0.961s 20. Rene Munnich Munnich SEAT 55.650s +1.569s 21. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 55.697s +1.616s 22. Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 55.890s +1.809s 23. Yukinori Taniguchi Wiechers BMW 56.679s +2.598s 24. Henry Ho Engstler BMW 57.051s +2.970s 25. Jeronimo Badaraco Son Veng Chevrolet 57.177s +3.096s 26. Ka Lok Mak RPM BMW 57.724s +3.643s 27. Kin Veng Ng China Dragon Chevrolet 57.771s +3.690s 28. Filipe de Souza China Dragon Chevrolet 58.122s +4.041s
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