Citroën’s José María López made it three fastest times out of three in second free practice for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Qatar, ending up 0.225 seconds ahead of Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente.
López’s time of 2:01.859 was set just after the second half of the session, giving the Argentine a 0.225 second advantage over the leading Chevrolet of Valente, who headed up a quartet of Frenchmen.
A surprise third fastest was Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Grégoire Demoustier, ahead of Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb in fourth. John Filippi put the second Campos Chevrolet in fifth, ahead of ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton in sixth, suggesting that the Cruze drivers had found a good set-up around the 5.38 km circuit.
Ma Qing Hua put his Citroën in seventh fastest, ahead of the independent Sébastien Loeb Racing C-Elysée of Mehdi Bennani in eighth.
Münnich Motorsport’s Stefano D’Aste and LADA’s Nicky Catsburg completed the top ten, with the latter ending the session as the top LADA driver for the second session in succession.
Qatari local Nasser Al-Attiyah continued to improve his times, shaving eight tenths off his first practice time to end the session as 17th fastest, a shade ahead of LADA’s Nicolas Lapierre.
Qualifying takes place at 15:00 local time on Friday (13:00 CET; 12:00 GMT).
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 2:01.859 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 2:02.084 | 0.225 |
| 3 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 2:02.262 | 0.403 |
| 4 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 2:02.267 | 0.408 | |
| 5 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 2:02.404 | 0.545 |
| 6 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 2:02.519 | 0.660 |
| 7 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 2:02.588 | 0.729 | |
| 8 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 2:02.631 | 0.772 |
| 9 | 26 | Y | Stefano D’ASTE |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 8 | 2:02.800 | 0.941 |
| 10 | 10 | Nick CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 2:02.817 | 0.958 | |
| 11 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 2:02.823 | 0.964 | |
| 12 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 2:02.869 | 1.010 |
| 13 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 2:03.126 | 1.267 |
| 14 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 2:03.410 | 1.551 | |
| 15 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 2:03.499 | 1.640 | |
| 16 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 2:03.539 | 1.680 | |
| 17 | 95 | Y | Nasser Saleh AL-ATTIYAH |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 2:03.600 | 1.741 |
| 18 | 47 | Nicolas LAPIERRE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 2:03.630 | 1.771 |