Brno - FP1: Muller sets the pace

Yvan Muller emerged as the fastest driver in the morning practice. Under a cloudy sky the reigning world champion posted a lap of 2:11.039 with seven minutes left on the clock, improving his own team-mate Rob Huff’s provisional fastest time of 2:11.525.

Just before the session ended, Alain Menu improved to 2:11.185 and climbed to second, completing a Chevrolet 1-2-3 on top of the time sheet.

Norbert Michelisz and his BMW 320 TC were best of the rest; the Hungarian youngster completed his fastest lap in 2:11.723, 0.6 seconds off Muller’s pace.

Robert Dahlgren had an encouraging first outing in the Volvo C30 powered by the new 1.6L turbo engine. The 2010 Scandinavian Touring Car champion easily posted the fifth fastest lap of the session (2:12.257) being one tenth faster than Tom Coronel’s BMW (2:12.409).

The SUNRED drivers had mixed fortunes as the team had worked overnight to assemble the new turbo engines on some of the cars. Tiago Monteiro and Fredy Barth were unable to post reasonable lap times because of technical problems. Michel Nykjær managed to set the seventh fastest lap of 2:12.451 just ahead of Gabriele Tarquini (2:12.742). Despite missing most of the session due to a suspension problem, Pepe Oriola was classified 11th with a lap of 2:13.292.

The only driver who experienced a thrilling moment during the session was Franz Engstler who spun onto the gravel trap at Turn 4 and needed to be pushed back on track by the marshals.