Norbert Michelisz’s Honda Civic and James Thompson’s LADA Granta posted the fastest times in this morning fifteen-minute Warm up session.
The Zengö Motorsport driver was clocked at 1:45.917, nearly half-a-second faster than Thompson’s 1:46.378 that marked the British driver’s best performance of the weekend so far after he was slowed by traffic during yesterday’s Qualifying session.
Tiago Monteiro ranked third with his Castrol Honda Team car (1:46.438) ahead of the RML Chevrolet Cruze of Yvan Muller (1:46.687).
The Proteam Racing BMW 320 TC of Mehdi Bennani rounded off the top five with a best lap of 1:46.709, which placed the Moroccan driver on top of the Yokohama Trophy field. Bennani will start Race 2 from pole position following the grid penalty imposed to Michel Nykjær.
Race 1 pole sitter Tom Chilton was classified sixth (1:46.785). The top eight positions consisted of six different manufacturers, with Rob Huff being the quickest of the SEAT León drivers in eighth place (1:46.911).
Race 1 is scheduled to start at 11.50 local time (20.50 CET) with Race 2 at 14.20.
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norbert MICHELISZ | Honda Civic | 1:45.917 |
| 2 | James THOMPSON | Lada Granta | 1:46.378 |
| 3 | Tiago MONTEIRO | Honda Civic | 1:46.438 |
| 4 | Yvan MULLER | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:46.687 |
| 5 | Mehdi BENNANI | BMW 320 TC | 1:46.709 |
| 6 | Tom CHILTON | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:46.785 |
| 7 | Pepe ORIOLA | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:46.889 |
| 8 | Rob HUFF | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:46.911 |
| 9 | Gabriele TARQUINI | Honda Civic | 1:46.932 |
| 10 | Marc BASSENG | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:47.115 |
| 11 | Michel NYKJAER | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:47.404 |
| 12 | Fredy BARTH | BMW 320 TC | 1:47.499 |
| 13 | Charles NG | BMW 320 TC | 1:47.500 |
| 14 | Fernando MONJE | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:47.533 |
| 15 | Tom BOARDMAN | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:47.570 |
| 16 | Hugo VALENTE | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:47.636 |
| 17 | Darryl O’YOUNG | BMW 320 TC | 1:47.711 |
| 18 | Franz ENGSTLER | BMW 320 TC | 1:47.742 |
| 19 | Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY | Lada Granta | 1:47.830 |
| 20 | Alex MACDOWALL | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:47.867 |
| 21 | Stefano D’ASTE | BMW 320 TC | 1:48.009 |
| 22 | James NASH | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:48.185 |
| 23 | René MUNNICH | SEAT Leon WTCC | 1:48.403 |
| 24 | Tom CORONEL | BMW 320 TC | -:—.--- |