The Chevrolet Cruze and Honda Civic cars set the benchmark times, filling the four top spots of the classification. Yvan Muller emerged as the fastest with a lap of 1:46.095 posted at the end of the session that was enough to beat Gabriele Tarquini’s 1:46.125 by 32 thousandths of a second.

 

Muller’s team-mate Tom Chilton, who had topped the time sheet for a while, ranked in third with a lap of 1:46.168, while Norbert Michelisz and the Zengö Motorsport Honda set the fourth fastest time of 1:46.601.

James Thompson placed his LADA Granta in a promising fifth position with a lap of 1:46.702, ahead of Tom Coronel’s BMW 320 TC (1:46.835) and Michel Nykjær’s Chevrolet (1:46.975) that topped the Yokohama Trophy.

Alex MacDowall (1:46.995), Tiago Monteiro (1:47.039) and Fernando Monje (1:47.347) – fastest of the SEAT drivers – rounded off the top-ten.

 

Local hero Mehdi Bennani was classified 19th and received a warning for repeatedly trespassing the track limits.

The next free practice will start at 12.15 local time.