Motegi, PF2: WTCC clean sweep for Tarquini

Gabriele Tarquini made it a hat trick of top times during the JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of Japan weekend with the fastest lap in Free Practice 2 but Sébastien Loeb served notice of his intent by going second fastest, 0.294s down on the factory Honda driver in his Citroën.

Tarquini lapped the 4.801-kilometre Twin Ring Motegi in a weekend-best of 1m56.968s, while team-mate Tiago Monteiro underlined Honda’s strong form in third followed by Norbert Michelisz in a privateer Civic WTCC.

“It’s a dream for me to be in front in FP2 but the next [session] is the very important one,” said Tarquini, who was also quickest in Friday testing and Saturday morning’s Free Practice 1. “I don’t know how we can improve because we have found a very good set-up. The engine works correct but now we need everything to be perfect to be fighting for the pole in Q3.”

Tom Coronel was fifth with Ma Qing Hua sixth, Nicky Catsburg the best LADA driver in seventh followed by Chevrolet pair Hugo Valente and Tom Chilton. José María López completed the top 10 with WTCC newcomer Nicolas Lapierre just behind the reigning WTCC champion in P11.

Stefano D’Aste, Mehdi Bennani, Grégoire Demoustier, John Filippi and Yvan Muller were next, while a suspected throttle problem restricted Rob Huff to P17 after the Briton was only able to complete three meaningful laps in his LADA.

Qualifying is next with the WTCC drivers tackling Q1 from 15h30 local time.