Marrakesh WTCR: Bjork tops practice for Lynk & Co

Bjork, the 2017 World Touring Car Championship title winner, set a best time of 1m25.308s in the shorter second session at the Moulay El Hassan street circuit.

Despite air temperatures hovering at around 12C, sunshine before FP2 helped dry out damp spots that had remained after first practice, and it took WRT's Jean-Karl Vernay less than 10 minutes to beat Aurelien Panis's 1m25.841s benchmark from the first session.

Reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini spent much of the first half of the 30-minute session in the pits, but vaulted his BRC Hyundai i30 N to the top of the times with a 1m25.625s.

That effort was beaten by Tiago Monteiro, Tarquini's BRC stablemate Norbert Michelisz and Esteban Guerrieri, before Bjork hit the front by going a tenth and a half faster than the Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R.

The session was stopped with four and a half minutes left on the clock when Tom Coronel briefly came to a halt on track after his front-right tyre went down at the first corner - a minute or so after Gordon Shedden had also suffered a puncture at the same spot.

But Coronel got going again and was able to limp his Comtoyou Cupra back to the pits, allowing drivers one final attempt at a fast run.

Guerrieri looked as though he might trouble Bjork's top spot with a fastest first sector of all on his first flying lap back out on track, but ultimately backed out of that effort.

The Argentinian did go faster on his final run, but an effort of 1m25.402s left him 0.094 seconds down - meaning Bjork, who took pole for the opening WTCR race in Marrakech last season, ended FP2 on top and within a second of Tarquini's qualifying lap record.

Bjork's Cyan team-mate Yvan Muller jumped up to third late on in his Lynk & Co 03, a further 0.038s back from Guerrieri, while Norbert Michelisz was the fastest of Hyundai's contenders in fourth.

Monteiro made a strong start to his first weekend back in World Touring Cars on a full-time basis by going fifth fastest in both sessions in his KCMG Honda.

Tarquini's early benchmark time was good enough for sixth in the final FP2 order ahead of Yann Ehrlacher - whose mirror fell of and had to be collected by marshals under a full-course yellow in FP2 - and Panis (Comtoyou Cupra), who had earlier beaten Vernay and the Lukoil-backed BRC Hyundai of Nicky Catsburg to top spot in FP1.

The PWR Cupra of Mikel Azcona and Vernay's Audi RS3 LMS completed the top 10 in the faster second session, with both within half a second of Bjork's time.

Rob Huff was again fastest of the Volkswagen contingent in 11th in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Golf GTI, one place ahead of where he ended FP1, while Kevin Ceccon put Team Mulsanne's lead Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce 13th after ending FP1 in 21st.

As pre-season predictions suggested, the field spread was incredibly tight; 18 cars were separated by a second in first practice, while all but three of the 26 drivers were in that bracket in FP2.

Three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx was the final driver within a second of Bjork in FP2, reporting on his final run that he had "a bit of play in the first part of my brake pedal" in his Lynk & Co 03.

FP1 results

Cla	#	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	21	Aurelien Panis	Cupra	12	1'25.841
2	69	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi	18	1'25.942	0.101
3	88	Nick Catsburg	Hyundai	11	1'26.026	0.185
4	68	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	17	1'26.198	0.357
5	18	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	13	1'26.256	0.415
6	86	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	7	1'26.440	0.599
7	100	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	12	1'26.459	0.618
8	37	Daniel Haglof	Cupra	22	1'26.471	0.630
9	22	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	12	1'26.489	0.648
10	5	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	12	1'26.553	0.712
11	111	Andy Priaulx	Lynk & Co	20	1'26.573	0.732
12	12	Rob Huff	Volkswagen	9	1'26.620	0.779
13	1	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	7	1'26.629	0.788
14	11	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	16	1'26.649	0.808
15	25	Mehdi Bennani	Volkswagen	14	1'26.767	0.926
16	14	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen	13	1'26.799	0.958
17	96	Mikel Azcona	Cupra	20	1'26.826	0.985
18	8	Augusto Farfus	Hyundai	15	1'26.839	0.998
19	52	Gordon Shedden	Audi	14	1'26.849	1.008
20	10	Niels Langeveld	Audi	23	1'27.104	1.263
21	31	Kevin Ceccon	Alfa Romeo	21	1'27.115	1.274
22	50	Tom Coronel	Cupra	6	1'27.140	1.299
23	29	Nestor Girolami	Honda	6	1'27.508	1.667
24	9	Attila Tassi	Honda	25	1'27.559	1.718
25	33	Benjamin Leuchter	Volkswagen	17	1'28.016	2.175
26	55	Ma Qing Hua	Alfa Romeo	18	1'29.689	3.848

FP2 results

Cla	#	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	11	Thed Björk	Lynk & Co	12	1'25.308
2	86	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda	12	1'25.402	0.094
3	100	Yvan Muller	Lynk & Co	9	1'25.440	0.132
4	5	Norbert Michelisz	Hyundai	13	1'25.498	0.190
5	18	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	17	1'25.510	0.202
6	1	Gabriele Tarquini	Hyundai	8	1'25.625	0.317
7	68	Yann Ehrlacher	Lynk & Co	15	1'25.736	0.428
8	21	Aurelien Panis	Cupra	14	1'25.754	0.446
9	96	Mikel Azcona	Cupra	17	1'25.766	0.458
10	69	Jean-Karl Vernay	Audi	13	1'25.776	0.468
11	12	Rob Huff	Volkswagen	13	1'25.831	0.523
12	88	Nick Catsburg	Hyundai	12	1'25.849	0.541
13	31	Kevin Ceccon	Alfa Romeo	17	1'25.857	0.549
14	29	Nestor Girolami	Honda	13	1'25.858	0.550
15	8	Augusto Farfus	Hyundai	16	1'25.899	0.591
16	52	Gordon Shedden	Audi	11	1'25.967	0.659
17	50	Tom Coronel	Cupra	13	1'26.023	0.715
18	9	Attila Tassi	Honda	17	1'26.031	0.723
19	22	Frederic Vervisch	Audi	10	1'26.118	0.810
20	14	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen	15	1'26.126	0.818
21	37	Daniel Haglof	Cupra	13	1'26.151	0.843
22	25	Mehdi Bennani	Volkswagen	13	1'26.184	0.876
23	111	Andy Priaulx	Lynk & Co	14	1'26.200	0.892
24	55	Ma Qing Hua	Alfa Romeo	15	1'26.357	1.049
25	10	Niels Langeveld	Audi	15	1'26.472	1.164
26	33	Benjamin Leuchter	Volkswagen	13	1'26.844	1.536