Tom Coronel beats Rob Huff to top spot in Marrakech WTCC practice
Tom Coronel set a blistering pace in the second World Touring Car Championship practice session in Morocco to deny Honda's Rob Huff
Huff's team-mate Tiago Monteiro had set the pace in first practice and Honda looked set to top both sessions until Coronel improved on his final tour in FP2.
The Dutchman set the fastest time of the weekend so far with a 1m21.824s lap of the redesigned Circuit Moulay El Hassan street track, beating Huff's benchmark time by a quarter of a second.
Friday testing pacesetter Huff had edged out leading Citroen driver Jose Maria Lopez halfway through the session by 0.067 seconds.
Lopez wound up third quickest, with both he and fourth-placed Norbert Michelisz opting not to attempt any late improvements.
Nicky Catsburg was sixth for Lada, with Fredrik Ekblom top Volvo in 11th.
In a tight opening session, Monteiro led from team-mate Michelisz after a late improvement.
Monteiro's best time, a 1m22.081s, was just 0.003 seconds faster than Michelisz's, the Hungarian having led his team-mate by a similar margin into the final five minutes of the session.
Lopez prevented a Honda 1-2-3 - having also done so during Friday's test session - with the third-fastest time, just 0.003s faster than Huff.
Thed Bjork was the only other driver to get within a second of the pace in fifth in his Volvo S60 Polestar, ahead of Catsburg and his Lada team-mate Hugo Valente.
Yvan Muller finished the opening session at the back of a tight midfield pack in the second works Citroen C-Elysee, 1.421s off the pace, although the Frenchman did improve his placing in the second session, recording the seventh-fastest time.
PRACTICE ONE TIMES:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1m22.081s | 16 |
2 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 0.003s | 15 |
3 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 0.377s | 17 |
4 | Rob Huff | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 0.380s | 15 |
5 | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 0.630s | 14 |
6 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport | Lada | 1.003s | 16 |
7 | Hugo Valente | LADA Sport | Lada | 1.077s | 15 |
8 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1.098s | 16 |
9 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1.201s | 15 |
10 | Gabriele Tarquini | LADA Sport | Lada | 1.205s | 15 |
11 | Fredrik Ekblom | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 1.272s | 15 |
12 | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1.347s | 13 |
13 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1.406s | 14 |
14 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 1.421s | 19 |
15 | Gregoire Demoustier | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2.548s | 16 |
16 | Ferenc Ficza | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 2.954s | 8 |
17 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 3.475s | 14 |
PRACTICE TWO TIMES:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1m21.824s | 14 |
2 | Rob Huff | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 0.252s | 16 |
3 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 0.319s | 14 |
4 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 0.400s | 13 |
5 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 0.424s | 15 |
6 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport | Lada | 0.599s | 15 |
7 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 0.814s | 13 |
8 | Gabriele Tarquini | LADA Sport | Lada | 0.857s | 16 |
9 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 0.883s | 14 |
10 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1.042s | 16 |
11 | Fredrik Ekblom | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 1.156s | 15 |
12 | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 1.238s | 14 |
13 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1.416s | 17 |
14 | Hugo Valente | LADA Sport | Lada | 1.428s | 14 |
15 | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1.523s | 12 |
16 | Gregoire Demoustier | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2.254s | 16 |
17 | Ferenc Ficza | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 2.476s | 10 |
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