Miami GP || May 5 || 16h00 (Local time)

Paul Ricard, FP2: Björk puts Polestar on top in WTCC

The best of the Citroën drivers were down in fifth and sixth

By Franck Drui

2 April 2016 - 12:44

Polestar showed promising speed ahead of its first full FIA World Touring Car Championship campaign with Thed Björk setting the pace in second practice for the WTCC JVCKENWOOD Race of France.

With the track now dry after the wet start to the weekend, Björk went to the top of the times in the second half of the session with a lap of 1m30.069s.

First practice pace-setter Tiago Monteiro was second this time around for Honda, 0.348s down on Björk’s time. LADA drivers Nicky Catsburg and Gabriele Tarquini were close behind in third and fourth respectively.

The best of the Citroën drivers were down in fifth and sixth, with Yvan Muller leading José María López. Björk’s team-mate Fredrik Ekblom was seventh in the second of the Volvos in front of Norbert Michelisz for Honda.

Tom Coronel in ninth was the quickest of the RML Chevrolet Cruzes and best in the WTCC Trophy, ahead of his former team-mate-turned-Citroën driver Tom Chilton.

The first qualifying session of the 2016 WTCC season takes place at 14h00 local time.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Thed Bjork	Polestar Cyan	Volvo	1:30.069
2	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:30.417
3	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport	Lada	1:30.420
4	Gabriele Tarquini	LADA Sport	Lada	1:30.515
5	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:30.531
6	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:30.787
7	Fredrik Ekblom	Polestar Cyan	Volvo	1:30.945
8	Norbert Michelisz	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:30.976
9	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:31.021
10	Tom Chilton	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:31.222
11	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:31.255
12	Rob Huff	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:31.307
13	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	1:31.533
14	Rene Munnich	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:31.723
15	Hugo Valente	LADA Sport	Lada	1:31.731
16	Grégoire Demoustier	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:31.781
17	Ferenc Ficza	Zengo	Honda	1:38.551
18	Daniel Nagy	Zengo	Honda	-:—.---