Sonoma, FP2: Muller beats Michelisz

Once again it was a Chevrolet Cruze that set the fastest time at Sonoma, but while earlier this morning it was Pepe Oriola’s Tuenti Racing car that topped the timesheet, it was the RML car of Yvan Muller that set the best lap time in FP2 (1:46.268).

Unlike the all-Chevrolet top three in FP1, three manufacturers were represented in the first three places this time; second fastest was the Zengö Motorsport Honda Civic of Norbert Michelisz (1:46.299) while the Campos Racing SEAT León of Hugo Valente set the third fastest time of 1:46.618 right at the end of the session. Gabriele Tarquini’s Honda (1:46.654) and the Chevrolet of Tom Chilton (1:46.866) rounded off the top five.

Sixth fastest – and second of the Yokohama Trophy entrants behind Valente – was James Nash in a bamboo-engineering Chevrolet (1:46.948), with Wiechers-Sport’s Fredy Barth seventh fastest and the best of the BMW drivers with a best lap of 1:47.057.

Once again, the session saw a brief red flag period when Fernando Monje’s SEAT went into the barriers and while Tom Coronel avoided a repeat of the incident that caused FP1 to be red-flagged, the BMW driver spun at the exit to Turn 9 – one of a number of drivers to commit indiscretions during the half hour session.

The two-stage Qualifying session is scheduled to start at 14.00 local time this afternoon (23.00 CET)