Paul Ricard, MAC3: Citroën beats LADA in ultra-close WTCC first

There was a thrilling climax to the first ever Manufacturers Against the Clock in the FIA World Touring Car Championship, with Citroën beating LADA by just 0.03 seconds at Circuit Paul Ricard.

LADA was the first of the manufacturers to run in the team time trial competition, with Nicky Catsburg, Gabriele Tarquini and Hugo Valente running in close formation and setting a time of 3m07.175s.

Honda went next up with Norbert Michelisz, Tiago Monteiro and Rob Huff but could only manage a time of 3m09.598s after a mistake.

Citroën went last, with José María López fresh from coming out in top in the qualifying session and joined by Yvan Muller and Mehdi Bennani. Running at the back of the trio, Bennani recovered from losing time early on to give Citroën a time that was three hundredths of a second quicker than LADA.