José María López and fellow Argentine Néstor Girolami were among the star performers during Free Practice 2 for OSCARO.com WTCC Race of Portugal.
López was fastest of all in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC with Girolami (Honda Civic WTCC) third quickest in searing heat of the Vila Real streets, 0.279s adrift.
“I am very happy and the car was amazing,” said Girolami, who is making only his second appearance in the WTCC. “We pushed on new tyres to simulate the qualifying, which will be very, very difficult because one mistake can finish the weekend. We try to prepare and focus on the first step.”
Sébastien Loeb was 0.274s away from López in second with Ma Qing Hua fourth, home hero Tiago Monteiro fifth for Honda and Yvan Muller next up to make it four Citroëns in the top six. Rob Huff was the leading LADA Vesta runner in seventh with Mehdi Bennani the top Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy contender in eighth. Tom Coronel and Norbert Michelisz rounded out the top 10.
Free Practice 2 provided the final opportunity for drivers to work on set-up prior to Qualifying, which begins at 15h15 local time.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Maria Lopez | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 2:00.155 |
| 2 | Sebastien Loeb | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 2:00.429 |
| 3 | Nestor Girolami | Nika International | Honda | 2:00.434 |
| 4 | Ma Qing Hua | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 2:00.574 |
| 5 | Tiago Monteiro | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2:00.675 |
| 6 | Yvan Muller | Citroen Total WTCC | Citroen | 2:00.747 |
| 7 | Robert Huff | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 2:01.339 |
| 8 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Citroen | 2:01.412 |
| 9 | Tom Coronel | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2:01.465 |
| 10 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo Motorsport | Honda | 2:01.766 |
| 11 | Stefano D’Aste | Munnich Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2:01.869 |
| 12 | Hugo Valente | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 2:01.879 |
| 13 | Gabriele Tarquini | Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda | 2:02.912 |
| 14 | Tom Chilton | ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet | 2:03.146 |
| 15 | Nicky Catsburg | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 2:03.194 |
| 16 | Jaap Van Lagen | LADA Sport Rosneft | Lada | 2:03.209 |
| 17 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Chevrolet | 2:05.045 |
| 18 | Grégoire Demoustier | Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet | 2:05.148 |