Marrakech - Free 1: Tarquini sets the pace

Gabriele Tarquini was comfortably on top during first practice in Marrakech this morning setting a fastest lap of 1:46.975, 0.614s ahead of the rest of the field and nearly 4-seconds faster than last year’s lap record.

In a cooler 19°C, Tarquini set the pace for most of the 30-minute session in his SEAT León TDI. BMW Team RBM put on a good show with team mates Andy Priaulx (1:47.589) and Augusto Farfus (1:47.886) ending second and fourth respectively.

Despite bouncing across the kerbs around the twisting street circuit, Tiago Monteiro posted the third fastest time of the morning, a 1:47.663.

Back on track after kissing the wall yesterday, Chevrolet’s Alain Menu (1:47.894) finished fifth ahead of Tom Coronel (1:48.034).

Franz Engstler (1:48.034) was the quickest of the the Independents in seventh, after improving on his final lap of the session.

Hungarian Rookie Norbert Michelisz was the best of the rookies, his time of 1:48.055 was good enough for ninth despite the team deciding not to risk running in the final minutes of the practice. Jordi Gené (1:48.070) and the current lap record holder Rob Huff (1:48.073) rounded out the top ten.

With the track slightly wider and a quicker chicane layout, the street circuit is much faster than in 2009 with times expected to tumble even further later today. After first practice over two thirds of the grid were under the 1:50.833 barrier set by Huff in Race 1 in 2009.

Morocco’s Mehdi Bennani had a disspointing start to the day crashing into the wall at Turn 4 on his first flying lap and ending his session; Darryl O’Young also hit a wall and rejoined in the late stages after repairs.