Gabriele Tarquini and LADA were quickest in a closely-fought Friday test session at the second event of the FIA World Touring Car Championship season, with four different manufacturers in the top five ahead of WTCC Race of Slovakia.
Honda and Polestar also took turns at the top of the Slovakia Ring timing screens, while defending champion José María López was fifth in the best of the Citroëns.
In sunny and breezy conditions a late lap of 2m04.911s from Tarquini put him 0.211 seconds ahead of Honda’s Norbert Michelisz, while Nicky Catsburg completed a strong session for LADA in third. Thed Björk and Fredrik Ekblom made it a one-two for the Volvo S60 with a couple of minutes left on the clock but ended up fourth and seventh respectively, split by López, Tiago Monteiro (Honda) and Hugo Valente (LADA). Both Swedes are racing in Slovakia for the first time.
France Opening Race winner Rob Huff was ninth in the third of the Honda Civics while John Filippi was the best Chevrolet RML Cruze driver and best WTCC Trophy contender in P10, 0.061 seconds ahead of his new coach for this year, Yvan Muller, the four-time WTCC champion and works Citroën pilot.
James Thompson was 16th on his return to the WTCC after a year away, deputising for René Münnich in the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Cruze.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriele Tarquini | LADA Sport | Lada | 2:04.956 |
| 2 | Norbert Michelisz | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2:05.167 |
| 3 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport | Lada | 2:05.272 |
| 4 | Thed Bjork | Polestar Cyan | Volvo | 2:05.282 |
| 5 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 2:05.294 |
| 6 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2:05.428 |
| 7 | Hugo Valente | LADA Sport | Lada | 2:05.680 |
| 8 | Fredrik Ekblom | Polestar Cyan | Volvo | 2:05.921 |
| 9 | Rob Huff | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2:06.119 |
| 10 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 2:06.136 |
| 11 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 2:06.197 |
| 12 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2:06.566 |
| 13 | Tom Chilton | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2:06.762 |
| 14 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2:07.117 |
| 15 | Grégoire Demoustier | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2:07.640 |
| 16 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2:07.689 |
| 17 | Ferenc Ficza | Zengo | Honda | 2:14.094 |