Tiago Monteiro topped the times in the Testing session ahead of FIA WTCC ROSNEFT Race of Russia, leading Honda team-mates Norbert Michelisz and Rob Huff.
Showing no ill effects from his crash at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Monteiro led for most of the session and finished up with a best time of 1m38.523s. Michelisz and Huff claimed second and third respectively late in the session, although both were three tenths of a second down on their team-mate.
Nicky Catsburg made it a positive start to the home event for LADA by claiming fourth. Volvo driver Fredrik Ekblom briefly interrupted Monteiro’s dominance but was shuffled back to eighth within a few minutes, behind team-mate Thed Björk, LADA’s Hugo Valente and the championship leader José María López of Citroën.
Mehdi Bennani was the quickest WTCC Trophy driver in ninth, but just 0.021 seconds faster than John Filippi.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1:38.523 |
| 2 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1:38.828 |
| 3 | Rob Huff | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 1:38.921 |
| 4 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport | Lada | 1:38.995 |
| 5 | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan | Volvo | 1:39.165 |
| 6 | Hugo Valente | LADA Sport | Lada | 1:39.247 |
| 7 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:39.248 |
| 8 | Fredrik Ekblom | Polestar Cyan | Volvo | 1:39.284 |
| 9 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1:39.371 |
| 10 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 1:39.392 |
| 11 | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1:39.508 |
| 12 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1:39.819 |
| 13 | Gabriele Tarquini | LADA Sport | Lada | 1:39.890 |
| 14 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 1:39.890 |
| 15 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 1:40.628 |
| 16 | Grégoire Demoustier | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 1:41.256 |
| 17 | Ferenc Ficza | Zengo | Honda | 1:41.411 |