Sébastien Loeb has gone fastest on the opening morning of official FIA World Touring Car Championship testing in Barcelona.
Driving a Citroën C-Elysée WTCC in its new-for-2015 livery, Loeb lapped the 4.655-kilometre track in 1m49.972s, which was 0.877s faster than the time recorded by Mehdi Bennani in a C-Elysée WTCC run by Sébastien Loeb’s eponymous team.
Tiago Monteiro was the leading Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team driver in third, 1.347s down on Loeb, with Gabriele Tarquini fourth in an identical Honda Civic WTCC. John Filippi was the lead Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze driver in fifth with Norbert Michelisz sixth and Hugo Valente seventh.
Several WTCC stars are not testing in Barcelona having run at alternative venues over the winter or due to the fact they are waiting for their cars to be completed for the new season. Meanwhile, LADA Sport Rosneft is currently testing its all-new Vesta at Magny-Cours in France in readiness for WTCC Race of Argentina from 6-8 March.
The afternoon session begins at 14h00 local time. Weather conditions are dry and sunny.
Leading testing times (morning session):
1 Sébastien Loeb (Citroën C-Elysée WTCC) 1m49.972s
2 Mehdi Bennani (Citroën C-Elysée WTCC) 1m50.847s
3 Tiago Monteiro (Honda Civic WTCC) 1m51.319s
4 Gabriele Tarquini (Honda Civic WTCC) 1m51.323s
5 John Filippi (Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1) 1m51.723s
6 Norbert Mischelisz (Honda Civic WTCC) 1m52.045s
7 Hugo Valente (Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1) 1m53.745s