López’s BMW 320 TC set a time of 1:48.652 in the dying moments of the session to deny Alex MacDowall (1:49.406) the chance to top the timesheet. Behind MacDowall’s Chevrolet, a relieved Rob Huff (1:49.444) could finally set a decent lap time in his SEAT León after the engine change and turbo problems of yesterday, while one of the surprises of the session saw Mikhail Kozlovskiy set the fourth fastest time in the LADA Granta (1:49.628).

Kozlovskiy’s team-mate James Thompson confirmed the good shape of the LADA cars by posting the sixth fastest lap (1:49.866) ahead of the first Honda Civic, that of Norbert Michelisz (1:49.989). Race 1 pole position sitter Yvan Muller ranked ninth (1:50.133).

López will start the second of this afternoon’s two eleven-lap races from pole position after setting the tenth quickest time in qualifying yesterday.