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José María López pips Norbert Michelisz to top Qatar time

World Touring Car Champion José María López pipped Norbert Michelisz to the top time in testing for the WTCC in Qatar, with the Citroën racer edging the Zengő Motorsport driver late in the session.

On a low grip circuit, thanks to unusual rainfall on Wednesday, times continued to decrease throughout the half-hour session, with López ultimately going fastest in the dying seconds.

Micheliz also put in a fast lap late on to go second and end the session as the leading Honda driver, ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani in third, who had briefly been quickest himself with two minutes still to go.

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Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente was fourth fastest and the leading Chevrolet runners, just over a second off the pace.

Sébastien Loeb, seeking to hold on to the runner-up spot in the championship, was fifth fastest, heading Citroën team-mates Ma Qing Hua in sixth, who had been the early pace setter, and Yvan Muller in seventh.

Nicolas Lapierre was the leading LADA driver in eighth, with Chevrolet drivers John Filippi and Tom Chilton completing the top ten for Campos Racing and ROAL Motorsport respectively.

Honda’s Tiago Monteiro caused a brief red flag stoppage ten minutes in to the session when he stopped on track with mechanical problems. The Portuguese driver failed to post a time in the session.

Session results

POS NO CL DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 37 José María LÓPEZ Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 12 2:02.316 0.000
2 5 Y Norbert MICHELISZ Zengő Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC 11 2:02.602 0.286
3 25 Y Mehdi BENNANI Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 13 2:02.805 0.489
4 7 Y Hugo VALENTE Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 11 2:03.361 1.045
5 9 Sébastien LOEB Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 12 2:03.405 1.089
6 33 MA Qing Hua Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 12 2:03.460 1.144
7 68 Yvan MULLER Citroën Total WTCC Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 13 2:03.600 1.284
8 47 Nicolas LAPIERRE LADA Sport Rosneft LADA Vesta WTCC 10 2:03.788 1.472
9 27 Y John FILIPPI Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 10 2:04.052 1.736
10 3 Y Tom CHILTON ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 11 2:04.583 2.267
11 4 Y Tom CORONEL ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 13 2:04.596 2.280
12 10 Nick CATSBURG LADA Sport Rosneft LADA Vesta WTCC 12 2:04.886 2.570
13 11 Y Grégoire DEMOUSTIER Craft-Bamboo Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 11 2:05.184 2.868
14 26 Y Stefano D’ASTE ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 11 2:05.269 2.953
15 2 Gabriele TARQUINI Castrol Honda WTC Team Honda Civic WTCC 7 2:05.526 3.210
16 95 Y Nasser Saleh AL-ATTIYAH Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 10 2:06.272 3.956
17 12 Rob HUFF LADA Sport Rosneft LADA Vesta WTCC 3 4:47.576 45.260
18 18 Tiago MONTEIRO Castrol Honda WTC Team Honda Civic WTCC 1 No time N/A
0:00.000 0.000

Complete session results.

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