Gabriele Tarquini made it three out of three in practice for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, beating Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb to the top time in second free practice.
Tarquini was almost two tenths faster than he had earlier been in first practice, as the pace hottened up around the Japanese circuit. Loeb also closed in on his Honda rival, lapping just 0.294 seconds slower – the first time that anyone had been within half a second of Tarquini all weekend.
Tarquini remained cautious after topping his third successive session at Honda’s home circuit.
“It’s a dream for me to be in front in FP2 but the next [session] is the very important one,” said Tarquini. “I don’t know how we can improve because we have found a very good set-up. The engine works correct but now we need everything to be perfect to be fighting for the pole in Q3.”
Tiago Monteiro put the second works Honda in third, ahead of the third and final Civic in Japan this weekend of Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz in fourth.
There was a significant improvement from ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel to go fifth – the first time all weekend that a Chevrolet driver had been inside the top ten.
Citroën’s Ma Qing Hua was sixth, ahead of the leading LADA of Nicky Catsburg in seventh.
A further two Chevrolets made it into the top ten in FP2, with Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente in eighth ahead of the second ROAL car of Tom Chilton in ninth, with both drivers less than a second off the pace.
Points leader José María López completed the top ten in his Citroën, whilst team-mate Yvan Muller struggled for speed and ended up 16th, over two seconds off the pace.
LADA’s Rob Huff propped up the timesheets after failing to post a competitive lap time due to a suspected throttle problem.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:56.968 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:57.262 | 0.294 | |
| 3 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 1:57.425 | 0.457 | |
| 4 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:57.434 | 0.466 |
| 5 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:57.525 | 0.557 |
| 6 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:57.652 | 0.684 | |
| 7 | 10 | Nick CATSBURG | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 1:57.708 | 0.740 | |
| 8 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:57.798 | 0.830 |
| 9 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 1:57.944 | 0.976 |
| 10 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 1:58.195 | 1.227 | |
| 11 | 47 | Nicolas LAPIERRE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 1:58.332 | 1.364 | |
| 12 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:58.333 | 1.365 |
| 13 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:58.430 | 1.462 |
| 14 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:58.578 | 1.610 |
| 15 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:58.702 | 1.734 |
| 16 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:59.357 | 2.389 | |
| 17 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 3 | 2:55.541 | 58.573 | |
| 0:00.000 | 0.000 | ||||||||
| 0:00.000 | 0.000 |