The new Manufacturers Against the Clock in the FIA World Touring Car Championship delivered an even closer finish for round two in Slovakia, with Citroën and Honda remarkably tied for the fastest time.
Both makes’ three-car teams set times of 4m17.233s around two laps of the Slovakia Ring. After José María López, Yvan Muller and Mehdi Bennani set the benchmark for Citroën, Honda drivers Norbert Michelisz, Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro took to the track.
The Civic-driving trio were quicker than their rivals after one lap, but their margin after the first sector of lap two was a mere one thousandth of a second. They stretched that to over a tenth in the next sector but by the end of the lap they were deal level with the Citroën time.
Having missed out on MAC3 victory in Paul Ricard to Citroën by just 0.03 seconds, LADA failed to set a time after Nicky Catsburg suffered a puncture, having gone off track in his attempts to recover from a botched start.