Yvan Muller leads Nurburgring Nordschleife WTCC test session
Yvan Muller was fastest in Thursday's World Touring Car Championship test session on the Nurburgring Nordschleife ahead of Citroen team-mate Jose Maria Lopez
Muller and Lopez traded times for the majority of the hour-long session on the famous track, with Frenchman Muller eventually setting a fastest time of 8m39.950s after the session time had expired to usurp Honda's Rob Huff.
Lopez found more time shortly afterwards to split the pair.
Huff improved his time with five minutes to go - setting what at the time had been the fastest second, third and fourth sectors - to jump to the head of the leaderboard with a 8m42.220s.
But Muller blitzed the Briton's effort a couple of minutes later, going a full 2.270 seconds quicker in his Citroen C-Elysee before Lopez also bumped Huff down.
Tiago Monteiro was fourth behind Honda team-mate Huff, 2.292s off the Briton's pace, while Tom Chilton was fifth in his Sebastien Loeb Racing C-Elysee and the fastest independent driver.
The third factory Honda Civic of Norbert Michelisz and Lada's Hugo Valente separated Chilton from team-mate Mehdi Bennani, the Moroccan ending the session eighth-fastest having spent much of the hour in the top five.
Thed Bjork was ninth fastest, with both he and Polestar team-mate Fredrik Ekblom opting to focus on the set-up of their Volvo S60s during the session.
Nicky Catsburg was 10th ahead of Lada team-mate Gabriele Tarquini, while Munnich Motorsport stand-in and Nurburgring specialist Sabine Schmitz was 12th.
Tom Coronel picked up a puncture around a quarter of the way through just his second lap and was 13th.
RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 8m39.950s | - | 4 |
| 2 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Racing | Citroen | 8m40.827s | 0.877s | 4 |
| 3 | Rob Huff | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 8m42.220s | 2.270s | 5 |
| 4 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 8m44.512s | 4.562s | 6 |
| 5 | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 8m45.380s | 5.430s | 4 |
| 6 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 8m46.095s | 6.145s | 3 |
| 7 | Hugo Valente | LADA Sport | Lada | 8m46.947s | 6.997s | 4 |
| 8 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 8m47.471s | 7.521s | 4 |
| 9 | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 8m48.901s | 8.951s | 4 |
| 10 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport | Lada | 8m49.923s | 9.973s | 4 |
| 11 | Gabriele Tarquini | LADA Sport | Lada | 8m51.260s | 11.310s | 4 |
| 12 | Sabine Schmitz | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 8m55.508s | 15.558s | 4 |
| 13 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 8m55.547s | 15.597s | 2 |
| 14 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 8m59.742s | 19.792s | 2 |
| 15 | Gregoire Demoustier | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 9m03.509s | 23.559s | 4 |
| 16 | Ferenc Ficza | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 9m31.200s | 51.250s | 3 |
| 17 | Fredrik Ekblom | Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo | 13m30.382s | 4m50.432s | 3 |
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About this article
| Series | WTCC |
| Drivers | Yvan Muller |
| Author | Jack Cozens |
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