Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini set the pace in the opening Friday test session for the World Touring Car Championship in Hungary, as Honda cars locked out the top three positions.
Works Honda driver Tarquini topped the times with a lap of 1:50.995 to go less than a tenth faster than Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani.
Tiago Monteiro made it a Honda 1-2-3 with a lap 0.281 seconds slower than his team-mate.
Local hero Norbert Michelisz was fifth fastest and the slowest of the TC1 Honda drivers, with the ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet of Tom Chilton splitting the Honda’s in fourth.
Championship leader José Maria Lopez was sixth fastest and the top Citroën driver, with all three C-Elysée’s now laden with the maximum 60 kg of compensation weight.
A trio of Frenchmen were next, with Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente leading the way in seventh ahead of Citroën drivers Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb.
Rob Huff completed the top ten in his LADA, 0.856 seconds off the pace and the last driver within a second of Tarquini.
After an impressive repair job during the week, ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel was able to take to the track in his repaired Chevrolet, posting the 13th fastest time.
Franz Engstler was the top TC2 driver in 17th, more than a second faster than team-mate Pasquale di Sabatino. Championship returnee Yukinori Taniguchi was 19th and last in his Nika Racing TC2 Honda, 10.509 seconds off the pace.
John Filippi failed to post a time in his TC2 Campos Racing SEAT due to an electrical problem.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST |
| 1 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 1:50.995 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | TC1 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 14 | 1:51.064 | 0.069 |
| 3 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:51.276 | 0.281 |
| 4 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:51.349 | 0.354 |
| 5 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:51.433 | 0.438 |
| 6 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:51.453 | 0.458 |
| 7 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:51.589 | 0.594 |
| 8 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:51.738 | 0.743 |
| 9 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:51.789 | 0.794 |
| 10 | 12 | TC1 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Lukoil | LADA Granta 1.6T | 11 | 1:51.851 | 0.856 |