Russia, FP1: LADA leads with Catsburg in WTCC

LADA was quickest at home at FIA WTCC ROSNEFT Race of Russia with Nicky Catsburg leading Free Practice 1.

Catsburg set a time of 1m38.549s on his penultimate lap in the session and came close to matching that on his final effort, managing two laps that were faster than anyone else.

“It’s only Free Practice 1 so we still have time to improve but so far so good,” said the Dutchman, who made his WTCC debut at the Moscow Raceway 12 months ago. “I am not sure everyone else did what we did in terms of tyres. We were not sure if it would rain so we had to do a different strategy but I know the track from last year and it’s not changed since yesterday!”

Closest to the LADA driver were the three Honda representatives that led Friday’s test session, with Norbert Michelisz taking second ahead of Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro.

Thed Björk claimed fifth for Volvo in front of the other two LADA drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Hugo Valente. John Filippi was fastest in the WTCC Trophy in eighth, followed by Fredrik Ekblom and Tom Coronel.

It was a quiet session for the five Citroën C-Elysée cars, with Yvan Muller the best of them in 12th and championship leader José María López sitting 15th.

Free Practice 2 begins at 11h30.

P15 no problem for WTCC leader López

FIA World Touring Car champion José María López insists it’s business as usual despite winding up P15 in Free Practice 1 for WTCC ROSNEFT Race of Russia this morning.

The Citroën ace was 1.733s down on LADA’s pacesetting Nicky Catsburg at the end of the 30-minute session, which took place in cool and cloudy conditions.

“If you look at FP1 in Slovakia and a few other tracks I’ve also been at the back,” said the Argentine. “Of course I know it’s difficult in every race and I never take anything for granted. We keep working and we will see. I am not really worried because it’s Free Practice, if it was Qualifying then I would be worried.

“We had a plan, we followed the plan. We were having a look at the weather conditions because that will change the game. We are always ready and we try to do our best but sometimes our best is not always the best. But I am not disappointed with our session.”

López was captured on WTCC Premium TV running wide and getting slightly out of shape at a few corners. “I don’t think it’s different than the other races,” he said. “I was exploring my limits. Now is the time to test it and try to be ready for Qualifying, which is the main objective. It’s not a track which is easy and if you run wide a bit you can lose the car.”

Asked whether he was confident of making it into Qualifying Q3 and challenging for the DHL Pole Position Award, López said: “I am never confident, never. I always keep my feet on the ground. I know it’s really hard, I know I have a really tough competition and a very strong team-mate. I am never confident, I just see if I can improve a bit more.”

López and his WTCC rivals will be back on track at the Moscow Raceway for Free Practice 2 at 11h30 local time. Qualifying begins at 14h00.