Reigning World Touring Car Champion José María López remained on top of the times in first practice for the WTCC in Marrakech, ahead of Citroën team-mate Sébastien Loeb and independent Citroën Mehdi Bennani.
López had topped the times early on in the session, before team-mate Yvan Muller went quickest at the half-way stage. However the Frenchman’s time at the top didn’t last long, with López reasserting his authority around the African street circuit by upping the pace a few minutes later with a lap of 1:44.057, which would see him go more than half a second faster than the four-time champion.
Loeb was second fastest, going progressively faster inside the final ten minutes to end up 0.168 seconds adrift of the Argentine.
Local hero Mehdi Bennani was third, posting a quick lap inside the closing seconds of the session to end up 0.261 seconds off the pace and within a tenth of his team boss at Sébastien Loeb Racing.
That left Muller to complete the quartet of Citroën drivers at the front, with the Frenchman improving his time late on to be 0.363 seconds behind López.
Gabriele Tarquini was the top Honda driver in fifth, ahead of the fourth works’ Citroën of Ma Qing Hua in sixth.
The top Chevrolet driver was ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton in seventh, with the second works Honda of Tiago Monteiro in eighth. Norbert Michelisz and Rob Huff completed the top ten for Zengő Motorsport and LADA respectively.
Several drivers were warned about exceeding the track limits, including Tarquini, Huff and James Thompson, who ended the session in 15th position.
Several drivers experienced near-missed with the concrete barriers, including Serbian racer Dušan Borković, who went wide on numerous occasions as he appeared to face difficulty slowing his Honda Civic.
Mikhail Kozlovskiy was 17th fastest on his return to the WTCC, with the Russian ending the session 2.899 seconds off the pace.
Second practice takes place at 10:15 BST (11:15 CEST), with qualifying at 12:30 BST (13:30 CEST).
Complete times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:44.057 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:44.225 | 0.168 | |
| 3 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:44.318 | 0.261 |
| 4 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:44.420 | 0.363 | |
| 5 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:44.585 | 0.528 | |
| 6 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:44.674 | 0.617 | |
| 7 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:44.835 | 0.778 |
| 8 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:44.889 | 0.832 | |
| 9 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:44.898 | 0.841 |
| 10 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 1:44.930 | 0.873 | |
| 11 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 1:45.235 | 1.178 |
| 12 | 98 | Y | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:45.269 | 1.212 |
| 13 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:45.304 | 1.247 |
| 14 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 14 | 1:45.958 | 1.901 |
| 15 | 15 | James THOMPSON | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 1:46.612 | 2.555 | |
| 16 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 14 | 1:46.830 | 2.773 |
| 17 | 14 | Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 14 | 1:46.956 | 2.899 | |
| 18 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 1:47.531 | 3.474 |