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Paul Ricard, FP1 : Muller mighty in WTCC Free Practice 1

Lopez 2nd, Monteiro 3rd

By Franck Drui

27 June 2015 - 10:07

Yvan Muller has given home fans plenty of reason to cheer by posting the fastest time in Free Practice 1 for JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of France this morning.

The four-time winner of the FIA World Touring Car Championship lapped 3.841-kilometre Circuit Paul Ricard in 1m30.950 to edge Citroën team-mate and defending world champion José María López by 0.209s.

“We learn many things even if the session was only 30 minutes long,” said Muller. “Yesterday we were not happy with the car, we resolve some of the problems of yesterday but we still have another step to do. At the moment the heat is okay but it’s only Free Practice. Qualifying will be another story because it’s later in the afternoon and it will be much warmer. We change many things with the car, some small details to the suspension but I cannot say what.”

Tiago Monteiro was third quickest for Honda with Sébastien Loeb fourth for Citroën with Gabriele Tarquini fifth and Grégoire Demoustier (Chevrolet Cruze) impressing as the top Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy contender in sixth. Ma Qing Hua was seventh with Nicky Catsburg the top LADA runner in eighth. Norbert Michelisz and Hugo Valente rounded out the top 10.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:30.950
2	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:31.159
3	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:31.187
4	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:31.252
5	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:31.258
6	Grégoire Demoustier	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Chevrolet	1:31.348
7	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:31.441
8	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	1:31.516
9	Norbert Michelisz	Zengo Motorsport	Honda	1:31.689
10	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	1:31.690
11	Stefano D’Aste	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:31.698
12	Jaap Van Lagen	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	1:31.762
13	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:31.841
14	Robert Huff	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	1:31.973
15	Rickard Rydell	Nika International	Honda	1:32.251
16	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:32.318
17	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:32.409
18	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	1:33.012