Citroën’s José María López was the fastest driver in Friday testing for the World Touring Car Championship at the Slovakiaring, ahead of Honda’s Tiago Monteiro and Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani.
López took to the top of the times with just four minutes remaining, posting a time of 2:05.208 to knock team-mate Yvan Muller off the top of the timesheets.
Monteiro went second fastest in the final minute of the session, with the Honda driver’s lap still 0.891 seconds off the pace set by López.
Third fastest was the independent Proteam Honda of Bennani, who was the only other driver within a second of the Argentine’s pace. Muller ended the session in fourth, just over a second slower than his team-mate.
The second works’ Honda of Gabriele Tarquini was fifth fastest, ahead of the top Chevrolet of Hugo Valente. The Frenchman put himself in eighth with ten minutes reamining, before improving again near the end of the session.
Sébastien Loeb was seventh fastest, 1.305 seconds off López’s time. The ROAL Motorsport Chevrolets of Tom Chilton and Tom Coronel, and the Zengő Motorsport Honda of Norbert Michelisz completed the top ten.
Franz Engstler was again the fastest TC2 driver in 17th, ahead of series returnee Petr Fulín.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 2:05.208 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 2:06.099 | 0.891 | |
| 3 | 25 | TC1 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 2:06.124 | 0.916 | |
| 4 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 2:06.252 | 1.044 | |
| 5 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 2:06.314 | 1.106 | |
| 6 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 2:06.385 | 1.177 | |
| 7 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 2:06.513 | 1.305 | |
| 8 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 2:06.627 | 1.419 | |
| 9 | 4 | TC1 | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 2:06.783 | 1.575 | |
| 10 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 2:07.084 | 1.876 |