After setting the fastest time in the first Free Practice session this morning, Yvan Muller repeated the feat in the second session, shaving just over half a second off his earlier time to lap the Monza circuit in 1:57.504.
Chevrolet Cruze cars set all of the top five lap times, with Britons Alex MacDowall (1:58.293)second fastest and Tom Chilton (1:58.474) third.
Behind James Nash (1:58.506) and Michel Nykjær (1:58.685), the best non-Chevrolet was the sixth-placed Castrol Honda Civic of Gabriele Tarquini (1:58.819), while the reigning World Champion Rob Huff – making his debut in a Münnich Motorsport SEAT León – was seventh fastest with a time of 1:58.980. With ninth-fastest James Thompson’s LADA Granta lapping Monza in 1:59.119, there were four different manufacturers covered by a little over one and a half seconds.
The chicane at Turn 1 again caught out a number of drivers, with Darryl O’Young spinning there on Lap 9 and Tom Boardman out-braking himself and taking to the escape road late in the session. The Ascari chicane at Turn 4 also saw the SEAT of Marc Basseng spin before the German driver resumed.
The two-stage Qualifying session begins at 15.00 CET, with tomorrow’s two races due to start at 15.05 and 17.20.
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Timelap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yvan MULLER | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:57.504 |
| 2 | Alex MACDOWALL | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:58.293 |
| 3 | Tom CHILTON | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:58.474 |
| 4 | James NASH | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:58.506 |
| 5 | Michel NYKJAER | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:58.685 |
| 6 | Gabriele TARQUINI | Honda Civic | 1:58.819 |
| 7 | Rob HUFF | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:58.980 |
| 8 | Pepe ORIOLA | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:59.049 |
| 9 | James THOMPSON | Lada Granta | 1:59.119 |
| 10 | Fernando MONJE | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:59.276 |
| 11 | Tom CORONEL | BMW 320 TC | 1:59.369 |
| 12 | Tiago MONTEIRO | Honda Civic | 1:59.407 |
| 13 | Norbert MICHELISZ | Honda Civic | 1:59.501 |
| 14 | Tom BOARDMAN | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:59.746 |
| 15 | Darryl O’YOUNG | BMW 320 TC | 1:59.831 |
| 16 | Jean-Philippe DAYRAUT | BMW 320 TC | 1:59.857 |
| 17 | Marc BASSENG | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:59.861 |
| 18 | Stefano D’ASTE | BMW 320 TC | 2:00.211 |
| 19 | Franz ENGSTLER | BMW 320 TC | 2:00.264 |
| 20 | Mehdi BENNANI | BMW 320 TC | 2:00.509 |
| 21 | Fredy BARTH | BMW 320 TC | 2:00.517 |
| 22 | Aleksei DUDUKALO | Lada Granta | 2:00.539 |
| 23 | René MUNNICH | SEAT Leon WTCC | 2:01.723 |
| 24 | Charles NG | BMW 320 TC | 2:02.195 |