Honda’s Norbert Michelisz topped the times in Friday testing for the World Touring Car Championship in Hungary, giving his home fans an early cheer ahead of the weekend’s races.
Michelisz hit the top of the times in the closing minutes of the session, posting a time of 1:48.112 to go 0.369 seconds faster than team-mate Rob Huff in second.
Tiago Monteiro made it a Honda 1-2-3 in third, with the Portuguese driver having earlier been fastest in the opening ten minutes. He ended up seven tenths adrift of his Hungarian team-mate.
A surprise fourth fastest was ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel, who was the leading Chevrolet and the only other driver to be within a second of the pace, having improved on his final run in a quiet test session.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani was the leading Citroën racer in fifth, despite having been top of the times with ten minutes to go.
Works’ Citroën driver José María López was seventh, 1.464 seconds adrift, ahead of LADA duo Hugo Valente and Nicky Catsburg in seventh and eighth.
Citroën duo Tom Chilton and Yvan Muller completed the top ten, with the latter works’ car 1.823 seconds off the pace.
Volvo drivers Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk failed to produce their early pace from Slovakia, with the former in 12th and the latter failing to post a competitive time in the half-hour session.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:48.112 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:48.481 | 0.369 | |
| 3 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:48.836 | 0.724 | |
| 4 | 9 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 1:49.057 | 0.945 |
| 5 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:49.354 | 1.242 |
| 6 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:49.576 | 1.464 | |
| 7 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 1:49.660 | 1.548 | |
| 8 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 1:49.778 | 1.666 | |
| 9 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:49.787 | 1.675 |
| 10 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:49.935 | 1.823 | |
| 11 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 10 | 1:49.941 | 1.829 | |
| 12 | 61 | Fredrik EKBLOM |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 12 | 1:50.026 | 1.914 | |
| 13 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:50.641 | 2.529 |
| 14 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:51.354 | 3.242 |
| 15 | 77 | Y | René MÜNNICH |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:51.970 | 3.858 |
| 16 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 2 | No time | N/A | |
| 17 | 55 | Y | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 6 | No time | N/A |