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Norbert Michelisz goes fastest in first Qatar practice

Honda’s Norbert Michelisz stated his intent in first practice for the World Touring Car Championship season finale in Qatar by beating Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff and Volvo title rival Thed Björk to the top time.

Michelisz hit the top of the times after around 15 minutes of the 45-minute session and he remained there for the remainder, initially with a lap of 2 minutes 1.775 seconds before improving in the final seconds to a 2:01.595.

Second was Rob Huff in his Citroën, just over two tenths behind, whilst Polestar’s championship leader Thed Björk was third fastest, three tenths slower than his title rival.

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In fact, the three factory Volvo’s ended up together in the classification, with Nicky Catsburg going fourth fastest ahead of the returning Yvan Muller in fifth, who by being just under eight tenths off the pace showed he had lost none of his speed despite a year out of racing.

Honda’s Esteban Guerrieri was sixth, the only other driver to be within a second of the pace, ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani in seventh.

Yann Ehrlacher was the leading independent racer in eighth in his RC Motorsport LADA, ahead of SLR’s Tom Chilton in ninth. Chilton only completed four laps in the session after clouting a tyre stack early on and curtailing his running with damage to his Citroën.

The third SLR Citroën of John Filippi completed the top ten with a lap just two tenths slower than his more experienced team-mate directly ahead of him.

The session had earlier been red-flagged briefly when Campos Racing’s Kris Richard stopped on circuit after just over half an hour and his Chevrolet had to be recovered; he ended up in 11th overall.

Second practice is scheduled for 21:15 local time (18:15 GMT, 19:15 CET).

Session results

POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 5 Norbert MICHELISZ Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 15 2:01.595 0.000
2 12 Rob HUFF ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 15 2:01.806 0.211
3 62 Thed BJÖRK Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 Polestar 14 2:01.915 0.320
4 63 Nicky CATSBURG Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 Polestar 15 2:01.984 0.389
5 64 Yvan MULLER Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 Polestar 10 2:02.366 0.771
6 86 Esteban GUERRIERI Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 11 2:02.537 0.942
7 25 Mehdi BENNANI Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 14 2:03.029 1.434
8 68 Yann EHRLACHER RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC 19 2:03.715 2.120
9 3 Tom CHILTON Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 4 2:03.761 2.166
10 27 John FILIPPI Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën C-Elysée WTCC 14 2:03.980 2.385
11 11 Kris RICHARD Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 12 2:04.164 2.569
12 9 Tom CORONEL ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 15 2:04.251 2.656
13 24 Kevin GLEASON RC Motorsport LADA Vesta WTCC 18 2:04.605 3.010
14 34 Ryo MICHIGAMI Honda Racing Team JAS Honda Civic WTCC 8 2:04.983 3.388
15 99 Dániel NAGY Zengő Motorsport Kft Honda Civic WTCC 7 2:05.364 3.769
16 66 Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ Zengő Motorsport Kft Honda Civic WTCC 15 2:06.356 4.761
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