José María López set the pace in the Friday test session ahead of the World Touring Car Championship’s first visit to the Paul Ricard circuit in France, beating fellow Citroën driver Sébastien Loeb by 0.138 seconds.
However unlike in Marrakech just a week ago it was not a Citroën 1-2-3, with Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz posting the third fastest time within one second of the lead Citroën.
Hugo Valente was the only other driver within a second of the pace in his Campos Racing Chevrolet, whilst reigning champion Yvan Muller was fifth fastest in his rebuilt C-Elysée.
Gianni Morbidelli was the second-fastest Chevrolet driver, putting his Münnich Motorsport car in sixth, ahead of Honda’s Tiago Monteiro and ROAL Motorsport’s only car this weekend of Tom Chilton.
Gabriele Tarquini was tenth fastest in his newly-built Honda, which the Italian’s JAS Motorsport team have been hurrying to prepare over the past week since his crash in Free Practice in Morocco.
All three LADA drivers were more than 2.5 seconds off the pace and the slowest of the TC1 competitors.
Franz Engstler was the fastest of the three-car TC2 field, posting a time more than a second quicker than his team-mate Pasquale Di Sabatino and Campos Racing’s John Filippi.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST |
| 1 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:31.227 | |
| 2 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:31.365 | 0.138 |
| 3 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 1:32.135 | 0.908 |
| 4 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:32.158 | 0.931 |
| 5 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:32.383 | 1.156 |
| 6 | 10 | TC1 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 1:32.704 | 1.477 |
| 7 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:32.725 | 1.498 |
| 8 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 14 | 1:32.954 | 1.727 |
| 9 | 98 | TC1 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
NIS Petrol by Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:32.957 | 1.730 |
| 10 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 8 | 1:33.030 | 1.803 |