Thailand WTCC: Lopez tops red-flagged FP1

WTCC champion-elect Jose Maria Lopez led the way in the first free practice session of the penultimate round in Buriram, Thailand.

The Argentinian set his benchmark just in time, a handful of seconds before the session was interrupted due to Lada's Nicolas Lapierre crashing out.

Mehdi Bennani, who led most of the session, came home second, with Citroen's Sebastien Loeb completing a 1-2-3 for the French manufacturer.

Testing pace-setter Norbert Michelisz came fourth, despite looking competitive for a top three result, ahead of fellow Honda driver Gabriele Tarquini, with Nicky Catsburg sixth for Lada.

Tiago Monteiro took seventh for Honda ahead of Hugo Valente's Campos Racing Chevrolet, with Ma Qing Hua and Rob Huff completing the top ten.

Championship contender Yvan Muller finished just outside the top ten in 11th, but the Frenchman was not able to complete a representative lap before the session was interrupted.

A number of drivers, including local hero Tin Sritrai as well as Gregoire Demoustier and Lapierre, had laps deleted for track limits offences.

Practice results:

Pos.	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen	1'40.074
2	Mehdi Bennani	Citroen	1'40.373	0.299
3	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen	1'40.623	0.549
4	Norbert Michelisz	Honda	1'40.636	0.562
5	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda	1'40.886	0.812
6	Nicky Catsburg	Lada	1'40.986	0.912
7	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	1'41.105	1.031
8	Hugo Valente	Chevrolet	1'41.223	1.149
9	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen	1'41.513	1.439
10	Rob Huff	Lada	1'41.529	1.455
11	Yvan Muller	Citroen	1'41.634	1.560
12	Stefano D'Aste	Chevrolet	1'41.942	1.868
13	Tom Coronel	Chevrolet	1'41.967	1.893
14	Nicolas Lapierre	Lada	1'42.057	1.983
15	Tom Chilton	Chevrolet	1'43.151	3.077
16	Gregoire Demoustier	Chevrolet	1'42.354	2.280
17	John Filippi	Chevrolet	1'42.355	2.281
18	Tin Sritrai	Chevrolet	1'42.503	2.429