Nordschleife, FP1: Rain no pain for van Lagen in WTCC Free Practice 1

Jaap van Lagen marked his return to the FIA World Touring Car Championship in style by going fastest in a damp Free Practice 1 for WTCC Race of Germany.

Overnight rain and light showers this morning left the 25-kilometre Nürburgring Nordschleife coated in water and even more demanding than usual, while a thick covering of fog cut short the planned 60-minute session by 20 minutes.

But LADA Sport Rosneft driver van Lagen, who last raced in the WTCC five years ago but is ranked as a Nordschleife specialist, was undeterred and set a best lap of 10m17.982s in his Yokohama-shod Vesta TC1, 1.451s faster than team-mate Rob Huff managed as the Russian squad dominated proceedings.

“The LADA Vesta is for sure a big improvement, a huge step forward, and I believe it has a lot of potential to be at the front of the grid,” said Dutchman van Lagen. “I am happy to be back in WTCC with LADA Sport – the team I drove for in 2008-2009. Hopefully we can have good results here. I know this track very well, and the knowledge of the track is critical here and could be a big advantage, because Nordschleife is really difficult for the drivers.”

Tom Chilton was third fastest in his Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 with Tiago Monteiro the top Honda driver in fourth. Stefano D’Aste was fifth with Norbert Michelisz sixth. Tom Coronel was seventh quickest, Sébastien Loeb the leading Citroën runner in eighth, Gabriele Tarquini ninth and Yvan Muller 10th. World champion José María López was 13th, two places behind fast female racer Sabine Schmitz.

Several drivers had off-track moments with Mehdi Bennani, Stefano D’Aste, Grégoire Demoustier and Ma Qing Hua among those who were caught out by the slippery conditions.