Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini topped the times in first practice for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at the Moscow Raceway, with the Italian’s early time of 1:39.036 good enough to beat Citroën’s José María López.
Tarquini put in a quick lap early on in the session to go more than half a second faster than anyone else at that point, before Citroën’s López and third fastest Yvan Muller closed the gap.
Despite completing more laps than the Honda driver, none of the Citroëns could topple Tarquini’s time, leaving the experienced touring car driver to top his second successive session.
Sébastien Loeb was fourth fastest, just over half a second slower, ahead of the second works’ Honda of Tiago Monteiro in fifth.
Rob Huff was the lead LADA driver in sixth, with the Brit having been second fastest early on in the session.
Chevrolet duo Hugo Valente and Tom Chilton were seventh and eight fastest for Campso Racing and ROAL Motorsport respectively.
Completing the top ten were Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz and 2014 winner Ma Qing Hua, in what was ultimately a relatively quiet practice session.
Nika International’s Rickard Rydell was able to participate in practice today, having missed Friday’s testing session when his team’s transporter got held up by Russian customs officials. The Swede ended the session as the 13th quickest driver.
Dutch LADA duo Jaap van Lagen and Nick Catsburg were both more than a second off the pace in 11th and 17th positions respectively, with the latter close to two seconds slower in only his second session at the wheel of the Vesta WTCC car.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 9 | 1:39.036 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:39.185 | 0.149 | |
| 3 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:39.194 | 0.158 | |
| 4 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:39.559 | 0.523 | |
| 5 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:39.722 | 0.686 | |
| 6 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 9 | 1:39.740 | 0.704 | |
| 7 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:39.977 | 0.941 |
| 8 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 1:39.983 | 0.947 |
| 9 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:40.011 | 0.975 |
| 10 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:40.214 | 1.178 | |
| 11 | 46 | Jaap VAN LAGEN |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 1:40.332 | 1.296 | |
| 12 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:40.542 | 1.506 |
| 13 | 19 | Rickard RYDELL |  |
Nika International | Honda Civic WTCC | 14 | 1:40.647 | 1.611 | |
| 14 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 14 | 1:40.713 | 1.677 |
| 15 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 14 | 1:40.816 | 1.780 |
| 16 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:40.868 | 1.832 |
| 17 | 10 | Nick CATSBURG | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 15 | 1:40.986 | 1.950 | |
| 18 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:41.625 | 2.589 |