Las Vegas GP || November 23 || 22h00 (Local time)

Losail, FP1: José María López leads the way in Qatar

No stopping WTCC champion López

By Franck Drui

26 November 2015 - 18:00

José María López continues to be the man to beat at the Losail International Circuit after he clocked the best time in Free Practice 1 for FIA WTCC DHL Race of Qatar.

The double World Touring Car champion, who was fastest in testing earlier today, took 2m02.453s to complete the 5.380-kilometre lap in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC. Mehdi Bennani was the top Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy contender in second with Sébastien Loeb third and Stefano D’Aste a strong fourth for the privateer ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport team from Germany.

Gabriele Tarquini was fifth fastest for Honda with Chevrolet privateer Hugo Valente sixth, Norbert Michelisz seventh, Nicky Catsburg the leading LADA driver in eighth, Yvan Muller ninth and Nicolas Lapierre P10 in a second works LADA Vesta.

The 30-minute session provided the WTCC drivers with their first opportunity to sample the Losail International Circuit under the venue’s start-of-the-art floodlighting system, which provides enough illumination to light a residential street from Doha to Moscow.

Free Practice 2 gets underway at 21h30 local time with the two 12-lap night races taking place on Friday when the battle for the runner-up spot between Loeb and Muller and the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy fight between Bennani and Michelisz will be settled.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:02.453
2	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	2:02.863
3	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:03.068
4	Stefano D’Aste	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	2:03.300
5	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	2:03.353
6	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	2:03.492
7	Norbert Michelisz	Zengo Motorsport	Honda	2:03.514
8	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	2:03.538
9	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:03.546
10	Nicolas Lapierre	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	2:03.569
11	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:03.705
12	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	2:03.719
13	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	2:04.136
14	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	2:04.315
15	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	2:04.321
16	Robert Huff	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	2:04.385
17	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	2:04.445
18	Grégoire Demoustier	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Chevrolet	2:04.739