Practice report
WTCC Paul Ricard
Muller leads the way in first Paul Ricard practice
Citroen Racing’s Yvan Muller was fastest of all in the first WTCC practice session at the Paul Ricard circuit, leading title rival Jose Maria Lopez by two tenths of a second.
Edited: Jun 27, 2015, 12:27 PM
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Muller, 30 points behind Lopez in the championship heading into this weekend, led throughout the session, with his first time of 1:31.151 already faster than Lopez’s best from the session, before Muller found even more time on his second lap to set a 1:30.950.
The bulk of the fast times were set early on in the session, with Tarquini a late improver to put his factory Honda fifth behind teammate Tiago Monteiro and Sebastien Loeb’s Citroen.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Gregoire Demoustier was the best placed of the independents’ trophy drivers in sixth overall, with the French driver putting on a strong performance to be the best placed of the Chevrolet RML drivers for the first time in any session this season.
Ma Qing Hua was seventh in his Citroen ahead of the best placed Lada, that of Nicky Catsburg in eighth, with Zengo Honda’s Norbert Michelisz and Campos Chevrolet’s Hugo Valente completing the top 10.
Additional tyre stacks have been placed at Turns 2 and 5 following the drivers’ briefing on Friday, where a number of drivers questioned the use of the circuit run-off after yesterday’s test.
The new tyre stacks caused delays in both Lopez's and Tarquini's programmes as they both made contact with them during the session.
Ma, Catsburg and Munnich Motorsport driver Stefano D’Aste were all warned for exceeding the track limits, with D’Aste losing his fastest lap, but the Italian would improve again in the final moments to set the 11th fastest time in his Chevrolet.
Full Practice Results:
Position Driver Car Time 1 Yvan Muller Citroen 1:30.950 2 Jose Maria Lopez Citroen 1:31.159 3 Tiago Monteiro Honda 1:31.187 4 Sebastien Loeb Citroen 1:31.252 5 Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1:31.258 6 Gregoire Demoustier Chevrolet 1:31.348 7 Ma Qing Hua Citroen 1:31.441 8 Nicky Catsburg Lada 1:31.516 9 Norbert Michelisz Honda 1:31.689 10 Hugo Valente Chevrolet 1:31.690 11 Stefano D'Aste Chevrolet 1:31.698 12 Jaap Van Lagen Lada 1:31.762 13 Tom Chilton Chevrolet 1:31.841 14 Rob Huff Lada 1:31.973 15 Rickyard Rydell Honda 1:32.251 16 Mehdi Bennani Citroen 1:32.318 17 Tom Coronel Chevrolet 1:32.409 18 John Filippi Chevrolet 1:32.012
Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes
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