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Shanghai, FP1, FP2 : Volvo strikes first

Both Bjork and Ekblom dominate the two sessions

By Emmanuel Touzot

24 September 2016 - 05:25

Thed Björk has set the pace in Free Practice 1 at FIA WTCC Race of China this morning, lapping the 4.603-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit in a time of 1m51.838s in his factory Volvo S60 Polestar TC1.

World champion José María López was second for Citroën, 0.201s adrift, with the Argentine’s team-mate Yvan Muller third.

Norbert Michelisz was the quickest works Honda driver in fourth with Fredrik Ekblom fifth for Volvo followed by LADA’s lead driver Nicky Catsburg. Gabriele Tarquini and Rob Huff with WTCC Trophy title contenders Tom Chilton and Mehdi Bennani completing the top 10 for Sébastien Loeb Racing.

Polestar Cyan Racing’s Fredrik Ekblom marked his return to the FIA World Touring Car Championship in style with the fastest time in Free Practice 2 at WTCC Race of China.

Driving a Volvo S60 Polestar TC1, Ekblom clocked a best lap of 1m51.400s around the 4.603-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit, which compared favourably to the 1m51.999s effort from his team-mate Thed Björk in Free Practice 1 earlier this morning.

“We learned quite a few things,” said Ekblom, whose last WTCC race outing was in Russia in early June. “We tried some new stuff on the car but above all we had some better tyres for my sake and that made difference. I don’t have a lot of experience on this track but the car felt good, it was quick on the straight, it turns good and the traction is okay. Also, it’s quite warm so the long straight is a good time to relax a little bit.”

WTCC Trophy contender John Filippi had been on course to top the session in his Campos Racing Chevrolet before Ekblom’s late effort demoted him to second. Björk continued Polestar Cyan Racing’s strong start to its ‘home’ event in third with Mehdi Bennani fourth, Tom Coronel fifth, Tiago Monteiro sixth for Honda, Tom Chilton seventh and Norbert Michelisz eighth.

Gabriele Tarquini was the fastest of the works LADA driver in ninth with world champion José María López P10 for Citroën.

FP1:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Thed Bjork	Polestar Cyan	Volvo	1:51.999
2	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:52.200
3	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:52.346
4	Norbert Michelisz	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:52.557
5	Fredrik Ekblom	Polestar Cyan	Volvo	1:52.562
6	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport	Lada	1:52.649
7	Gabriele Tarquini	LADA Sport	Lada	1:52.758
8	Rob Huff	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:52.917
9	Tom Chilton	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:53.016
10	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:53.258
11	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:53.388
12	Hugo Valente	LADA Sport	Lada	1:53.399
13	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	1:53.580
14	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:53.682
15	James Thompson	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:53.737
16	Daniel Nagy	Zengo	Honda	1:54.561
17	Ferenc Ficza	Zengo	Honda	1:54.990
18	Grégoire Demoustier	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:55.612

FP2:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Fredrik Ekblom	Polestar Cyan	Volvo	1:51.400
2	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	1:51.867
3	Thed Bjork	Polestar Cyan	Volvo	1:51.924
4	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:51.956
5	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:52.257
6	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:52.298
7	Tom Chilton	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:52.420
8	Norbert Michelisz	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:52.486
9	Gabriele Tarquini	LADA Sport	Lada	1:52.498
10	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:52.604
11	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport	Lada	1:52.606
12	James Thompson	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	1:52.817
13	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	1:52.827
14	Rob Huff	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	1:52.955
15	Hugo Valente	LADA Sport	Lada	1:53.754
16	Grégoire Demoustier	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	1:53.828
17	Ferenc Ficza	Zengo	Honda	1:54.239
18	Daniel Nagy	Zengo	Honda	1:55.804