Citroën’s José María López was less than a second faster than team-mate Sébastien Loeb in Thursday testing for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
testing for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
López posted his best time of 8 minutes 41.192 seconds on his first flying lap of the one hour session, to beat Loeb, who was a mere 0.788 seconds slower around the 170-turn circuit. It was a far from straightforward session for López, though, when he came to halt mid-way through the session, but managed to get going again tog continue.
Yvan Muller made it a Citroën 1-2-3 at the top of the times, with the Frenchman also close to the Argentine’s time, being 1.203 seconds behind.
The top non-Citroën driver was Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente, who put his Chevrolet Cruze an impressive fourth, just 2.685 seconds off the pace.
Gabriele Tarquini was the top Honda driver in fifth, ahead of team-mate Tiago Monteiro in sixth, with the duo both within five seconds of the pace.
The fourth works Citroën of Ma Qing Hua was sixth, ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani, LADA’s Jaap van Lagen and ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton in tenth.
Nordschleife master Sabine Schmitz had a troubled session, as she could only post the 17th, and slowest, lap time. The experienced German racer came in 26.822 seconds off the pace.
There is no further track action on Thursday, with both free practice sessions and qualifying taking place on Friday, ahead of the two races on Saturday.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 1 | 8:41.192 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 8:41.980 | 0.788 | |
| 3 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 8:42.395 | 1.203 | |
| 4 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 3 | 8:43.877 | 2.685 |
| 5 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 8:44.737 | 3.545 | |
| 6 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 8:45.672 | 4.480 | |
| 7 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 2 | 8:46.002 | 4.810 | |
| 8 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 3 | 8:46.307 | 5.115 |
| 9 | 46 | Jaap VAN LAGEN |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 4 | 8:46.477 | 5.285 | |
| 10 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 4 | 8:46.873 | 5.681 |
| 11 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 4 | 8:48.627 | 7.435 |
| 12 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 4 | 8:49.392 | 8.200 |
| 13 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 3 | 8:49.847 | 8.655 | |
| 14 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 3 | 8:52.405 | 11.213 |
| 15 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 3 | 9:02.617 | 21.425 |
| 16 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 2 | 9:05.440 | 24.248 |
| 17 | 8 | Y | Sabine SCHMITZ |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1 | 9:08.014 | 26.822 |
| 18 | 0:00.000 | 0.000 |