Rob Huff set the early pace in the morning test session at the World Touring Car Championship media launch at Monza, posting a time which was almost eight tenths faster than fellow Citroën driver Mehdi Bennani.
Münnich Motorsport driver Huff was on top throughout the three and a half hour session, quickly getting to grips with his new Citroën C-Elysée WTCC to go top of the times by almost a second in the first part of the session.
Initially it was Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton who was Huff’s closest rival, before Moroccan Bennani upped his game and went second fastest in the last half hour of the session.
Néstor Girolami was the best of the Polestar drivers in third, ahead of team-mate Thed Björk in fourth and development driver Yvan Muller in fifth.
Elsewhere, Alberto Cerqui, who competed in the WTCC in 2012, is standing in at ROAL Motorsport for Tom Coronel, who has clashing commitments and is unable to make it to the test day.
The WTCC cars will return to the track for more testing in the afternoon, with another four-hour test session beginning at 14:00 CET.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 | T | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport RosneftALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 35 | 1:52.888 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 39 | 1:53.665 | 0.777 |
| 3 | 61 | Néstor GIROLAMI |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 27 | 1:54.277 | 1.389 | |
| 4 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 34 | 1:54.470 | 1.582 | |
| 5 | 63 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 24 | 1:54.490 | 1.602 | |
| 6 | 68 | T | Yann EHRLACHER | |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 43 | 1:54.811 | 1.923 |
| 7 | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 32 | 1:55.121 | 2.233 |
| 8 | 27 | T | John FILIPPI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 39 | 1:55.386 | 2.498 |
| 9 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 4 | 1:59.139 | 6.251 | |
| 10 | 9 | T | Alberto CERQUI |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 2:18.683 | 25.795 |
| 11 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 0 | No time | N/A | |
| 12 | 8 | T | Aurélien PANIS | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 0 | No time | N/A |
| 13 | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 0 | No time | N/A |