Hungaroring, FP2: López fastest as new Honda impresses

José María López continued his strong start to the MOL Group WTCC Race of Hungary weekend by topping the Free Practice 2 times in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC. However, Gabriele Tarquini was just 0.5s behind the world champion in Honda’s revamped Civic WTCC to demonstrate the potential of the car.

With the 4.381-kilometre Hungaroring remaining damp and slippery due to rain, López, who was also fastest in Free Practice 1, again set the pace, lapping the track in 2m11.506s.

But despite suggesting the Argentine ace was “uncatchable”, Italian Tarquini was pleased with the performance of his new car. “López seems uncatchable but we were closer and closer although I don’t know how it will be in qualifying,” he said. “It seems our car likes the wet conditions and is working better, so we are optimistic. It’s the first time we have run this new package in the wet so we must discover the potential of the car.”

Behind Tarquini, Tiago Monteiro gave Honda another boost by going third fastest followed by Yvan Muller – a winner in Hungary for the past four seasons – and local hero Norbert Michelisz. Rob Huff made it three different car makes in the top six by going sixth fastest for LADA Sport Rosneft.

Ma Qing Hua was seventh with Sébastien Loeb eighth after his Citroën mechanics rushed to repair his battered C-Elysée WTCC following his Free Practice 1 smash. Tom Coronel and Stefano D’Aste completed the top 10.

Qualifying for rounds five and six of the FIA World Touring Car Championship begins at 14h30.