The Citroën driver sped through the Ardennes in 2:24.561, some 0.714 faster than second-placed Hugo Valente’s Chevrolet RML car.

Reigning World Champion Yvan Muller finished the session in third (2:25.403), with Ma Qing Hua (2:25.492) and Gabriele Tarquini (2:25.537) completing the top-5, all five drivers classified within the same second.

Dušan Borković briefly held the second position but dropped back to sixth by the chequered flag. Tiago Monteiro parked the second works Honda in seventh, just ahead of Sébastien Loeb in eighth.

Franz Engstler remained on top of the TC2T class, two-and-half second faster than his fellow competitors.
A few drivers had some of their lap times disallowed for not respecting the track limits.

Action resumes at 15.00 in little under two hours with the qualifying session.