Nordschleife, FP1 : López goes quickest, crash for Huff

José María López took top spot in Free Practice 1 for the FIA WTCC Race of Germany at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

World champion López set a best lap of 8m44.236s early in the one-hour session, finishing up a second clear of Citroën team-mate Yvan Muller in a reversal of the positions from Testing held earlier on Thursday.

WTCC Trophy competitor Tom Chilton took an impressive third, just three tenths away from Muller. Nicky Catsburg was fourth for LADA in front of Rob Huff, who triggered an early end to the session with two minutes to go after he crashed his Honda due to a suspected puncture. He was reportedly unhurt in the impact, but has been taken for checks.

Norbert Michelisz stopped on track early in the session with a throttle pedal problem, but got going again to claim sixth ahead of Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro. Mehdi Bennani and Tom Coronel rounded out the top 10.

Hugo Valente’s session ended early when he hit a barrier in his LADA, but he took 11th ahead of Polestar Cyan Racing pairing Thed Björk and Fredrik Ekblom, the latter hindered by a misfire, and Nordschleife star Sabine Schmitz.