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Slovakia Ring, FP1: A Polestar WTCC one-two in Slovakia

Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk taking first and second

By Franck Drui

16 April 2016 - 09:44

Polestar Volvo Racing led the FIA World Touring Car Championship pack in Free Practice 1 for the WTCC Race of Slovakia with Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk taking first and second.

Ekblom set a time of 2m05.420s, 0.313 seconds ahead of his team-mate Björk. Behind the two Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 drivers were two LADA Vesta racers, with Nicky Catsburg third ahead of Friday’s pacesetter Gabriele Tarquini. Catsburg’s session ended early due to a suspected throttle sensor failure.

The three works Honda Civic WTCCs were next up, with Norbert Michelisz leading Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro. Hugo Valente took eighth in the last of the LADAs, in front of top Citroën driver José María López and lead Chevrolet RML Cruze man Tom Coronel, who set the pace in the WTCC Trophy.

Free Practice 2 will take place at 11h30.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Fredrik Ekblom	Polestar Cyan	Volvo	2:05.420
2	Thed Bjork	Polestar Cyan	Volvo	2:05.733
3	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport	Lada	2:05.763
4	Gabriele Tarquini	LADA Sport	Lada	2:06.043
5	Norbert Michelisz	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	2:06.172
6	Rob Huff	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	2:06.357
7	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	2:06.603
8	Hugo Valente	LADA Sport	Lada	2:06.750
9	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:06.814
10	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	2:06.863
11	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	2:07.295
12	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:07.365
13	James Thompson	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	2:07.509
14	Tom Chilton	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	2:07.693
15	Ferenc Ficza	Zengo	Honda	2:07.923
16	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	2:08.015
17	Grégoire Demoustier	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	2:08.056