Gabriele Tarquini has got Honda’s home round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship off to the perfect start by setting the pace in testing in his Yokohama-shod Civic WTCC at Twin Ring Motegi today.
And in a further boost for the Japanese manufacturer, Norbert Michelisz was second quickest in another Civic, topping the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy classification for Zengő Motorsport.
World champion José María López was third fastest for Citroën with Tiago Monteiro fourth in the second Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team entry. Nicky Catsburg was the top LADA driver in fifth with Mehdi Bennani sixth, Sébastien Loeb seventh, Rob Huff eighth, Yvan Muller ninth and Ma Qing Hua completing the top 10.
Elsewhere, Nicolas Lapierre marked his WTCC debut in P12, one place behind Tom Coronel, who has won WTCC Race of Japan more times than any of his rivals with three victories to his name.
The 30-minute session, which took place in ambient temperatures of 27 degrees centigrade, gave the majority of the WTCC drivers the chance to try out the 4.801-kilometre circuit for the first time. The next track activity during the JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of Japan weekend is Free Practice 1 at 09h30 on Saturday.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1:57.146 |
| 2 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 1:57.659 |
| 3 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:57.669 |
| 4 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1:57.792 |
| 5 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1:58.075 |
| 6 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1:58.152 |
| 7 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:58.169 |
| 8 | Robert Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1:58.714 |
| 9 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:58.852 |
| 10 | Ma Qing Hua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:58.966 |
| 11 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1:59.077 |
| 12 | Nicolas Lapierre | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 1:59.358 |
| 13 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1:59.371 |
| 14 | Stefano D’Aste | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1:59.711 |
| 15 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 2:00.104 |
| 16 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2:00.228 |
| 17 | Grégoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | 2:01.419 |