Citroën’s José María López made it three out of three in practice for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Marrakech, topping second practice to complete a clean sweep of all test and practice sessions.
López was the fastest out of the blocks in the half-hour session, posting a time initially of 1:43.759, before team-mate Yvan Muller surpassed the Argentine around the half-way mark. With around five minutes to go, it was then the turn of Sébastien Loeb to top the times, before López returned to the top with two minutes to go, just before the session was red-flagged early when LADA’s Rob Huff went into the barriers at turn four.
With the session not resuming, the order was left as López, followed by Loeb and Muller, whilst Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua made it a works’ Citroën 1-2-3-4 with a time just 0.285 seconds slower than López in a close session.
Tiago Monteiro was the top Honda in fifth, with the Portuguese driver likely to be relieved to be ahead of at least one Citroën, with Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani in sixth. M
ROAL Motorsport duo Tom Chilton and Tom Coronel were seventh and eighth fastest respectively. Coronel, along with Monteiro, was one of several drivers to be cautioned for exceeding the track limits. Ninth-placed Honda driver Gabriele Tarquini was the last person to be within a second of the front-running pace. Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente completed the top ten.
Having caused the red flag, LADA’s Huff finished the session 11th. The Brit brought the session to a premature end when, approaching turn four, he locked up and went straight on into the tyre barrier, one of a select few around the concrete-lined street circuit. Huff was able to return to the pits, but not before the bonnet had flown off his car on the back straight.
There were also issues for Huff’s team-mate Mikhail Kozlovskiy in the session, who completed just eight laps before returning to the pits with minor technical issues.
Qualifying takes place 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 | 1:43.540 | ||
| 2 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:43.646 | 0.106 | |
| 3 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 1:43.701 | 0.161 | |
| 4 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:43.825 | 0.285 | |
| 5 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:44.189 | 0.649 | |
| 6 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:44.272 | 0.732 |
| 7 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 1:44.353 | 0.813 |
| 8 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:44.399 | 0.859 |
| 9 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:44.465 | 0.925 | |
| 10 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 8 | 1:44.594 | 1.054 |
| 11 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 10 | 1:44.749 | 1.209 | |
| 12 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:45.069 | 1.529 |
| 13 | 98 | Y | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:45.145 | 1.605 |
| 14 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 1:45.626 | 2.086 |
| 15 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:45.959 | 2.419 |
| 16 | 15 | James THOMPSON | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 7 | 1:46.642 | 3.102 | |
| 17 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:46.746 | 3.206 |
| 18 | 14 | Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 6 | 1:46.916 | 3.376 |