A typical Cinese grey sky welcomed the drivers for today’s test session in which the fastest lap was timed by José María López (1:50.396).
The current championship leader did not show up on top of the time sheet for most of the 30 minutes, as he was focusing on set-up changes. Eventually, in the dying moment of the session he took the track again and posted the fastest lap under the chequered flag. Lopez’s effort was manily due to a monster split time in the first sector (42.662) that actually made the difference.
Yvan Muller was classified second with a lap of 1:50.595 after leading for most of the session, while Norbert Michelisz (1:50.750) placed the best of the Honda cars in third position ahead of the third Citroën of Sébastien Loeb (1:50.901). Nobody else was able to go under the 1:51. mark.
Gabriele Tarquini (1:51.097) set the fifth fastest lap, followed by local hero Ma Qing Hua (1:51.131), Mehdi Bennani (1:51.354), Tiago Monteiro (1:51.544) and the best Chevrolet of Hugo Valente (1:51.978). James Thompson was the fastest of the LADA men in 11th position (1:52.514); Franz Engstler topped the TC2T class(1:57.904) from John Filippi.
There was only one small incident on the track, when Mikhail Kozlovsky’s LADA spun at T4 and stalled for a few moments before rejoining. Dušan Borković, whose Chevrolet Cruze was rebuilt after last week’s crash in Beijing, could not post any lap time and remained in the pits due to a steering pump problem.
The WTCC field will run again tomorrow in two free practices at 8.10 and 10.40, before the qualifying session at 13.30.
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | José Maria LOPEZ | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:50.396 |
| 2 | Yvan MULLER | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:50.595 |
| 3 | Norbert MICHELISZ | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:50.750 |
| 4 | Sébastien LOEB | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:50.901 |
| 5 | Gabriele TARQUINI | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:51.097 |
| 6 | Qing Hua MA | Citroen C-Elysee WTCC | 1:51.131 |
| 7 | Mehdi BENNANI | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:51.354 |
| 8 | Tiago MONTEIRO | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:51.544 |
| 9 | Hugo VALENTE | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:51.978 |
| 10 | Tom CHILTON | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:52.433 |
| 11 | James THOMPSON | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:52.514 |
| 12 | Rob HUFF | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:52.516 |
| 13 | Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY | LADA Granta 1.6T | 1:52.990 |
| 14 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:53.006 |
| 15 | Tom CORONEL | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:53.329 |
| 16 | René MUNNICH | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:56.758 |
| 17 | Franz ENGSTLER | BMW E90 320 TC | 1:57.904 |
| 18 | John FILIPPI | Seat Leon WTCC | 1:58.805 |
| 19 | Filipe DE SOUZA | BMW E90 320 TC | 2:03.545 |
| 20 | Williams LOK | Seat Leon WTCC | 2:03.601 |
| 21 | Dusan BORKOVIC | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | -:—.--- |