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Paul Ricard, Tests: Hopes high for Honda following Tarquini WTCC test best

Loeb was the top French runner in sixth

By Franck Drui

26 June 2015 - 13:17

Honda has hit back from a frustrating trip to Slovakia with Gabriele Tarquini going fastest of all in testing for JVC KENWOOD WTCC Race of France.

The winner of the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2009, Italian Tarquini lapped the 3.841-kilometre Circuit Paul Ricard in a test-topping 1m30.227s.

Ma Qing Hua, from China, was second fastest for Citroën, 0.112s slower than Tarquini. Tiago Monteiro set the third best time in his Honda with José-María López (Citroën) fourth and LADA driver Rob Huff fifth.

Sébastien Loeb was the top French runner in sixth followed by Nicky Catsburg and Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy trio Norbert Michelisz, Mehdi Bennani and Hugo Valente. Click here to view the full testing classification.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:30.227
2	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:30.339
3	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:30.425
4	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:30.607
5	Robert Huff	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	1:31.033
6	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:31.146
7	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	1:31.160
8	Norbert Michelisz	Zengo Motorsport	Honda	1:31.257
9	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:31.269
10	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	1:31.470
11	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:31.476
12	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:31.484
13	Rickard Rydell	Nika International	Honda	1:31.616
14	Grégoire Demoustier	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Chevrolet	1:31.877
15	Jaap Van Lagen	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	1:31.934
16	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:32.389
17	Stefano D’Aste	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:32.531
18	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	1:32.532