Suzuka, FP1: Monteiro heads Honda one-two

Honda cars top time sheet

By Franck Drui

21 September 2013 - 03:05
Suzuka, FP1: Monteiro heads Honda (...)

Two Honda Civic cars topped the morning’s first thirty-minute session at Suzuka. Tiago Monteiro posted a provisional fastest lap of 53.703 in the early stages and then improved to 53.683 just before the end of the practice.

Honda guest driver Takuya Izawa created a surprise by posting the second fastest lap of 53.876, placing himself ahead of the Chevrolet Cruze of Yvan Muller (53.941).

None of the other drivers was able to break the 54-second wall. Tom Coronel ranked fourth in his BMW 320 TC (54.093) followed by Norbert Michelisz’s Honda (54.114), Pepe Oriola’s Chevrolet (54.179), James Thompson’s LADA (54.268), Stefano D’Aste’s BMW (54.319 – the best of the Yokohama Trophy cars), Gabriele Tarquini’s Honda (54.439) and the SEAT León of Rob Huff (54.493).

Contrary to what happened during yesterday’s test session, no red flag disrupted this first practice.

However, once again a few drivers took extra risks and spun or drove wide onto the run-off areas. Yvan Muller, Alex MacDowall, Hiroki Yoshimoto, Tarquini, Darryl O’Young, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Fernando Monje, Mehdi Bennani, Masaki Kano and Ng Kin Veng were all able to rejoin, while Marc Basseng was black flagged after he needed to be towed off the gravel trap at Turn 8.

Free Practice 2 is scheduled to start at 12.00 local time (5.00am CET) with the two-stage Qualifying session due to begin at 15.30.

Pos. Driver Car Time
1 Tiago MONTEIRO Honda Civic 53.683
2 Takuya IZAWA Honda Civic 53.876
3 Yvan MULLER Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 53.941
4 Tom CORONEL BMW 320 TC 54.093
5 Norbert MICHELISZ Honda Civic 54.114
6 Pepe ORIOLA Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 54.179
7 James THOMPSON Lada Granta 54.268
8 Stefano D’ASTE BMW 320 TC 54.319
9 Gabriele TARQUINI Honda Civic 54.439
10 Rob HUFF SEAT Leon WTCC 54.493
11 Hiroki YOSHIMOTO Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 54.497
12 Alex MACDOWALL Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 54.554
13 Tom CHILTON Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 54.561
14 Mehdi BENNANI BMW 320 TC 54.654
15 Fernando MONJE SEAT Leon WTCC 54.677
16 James NASH Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 54.682
17 Darryl O’YOUNG BMW 320 TC 54.842
18 Mikhail KOZLOVSKIY Lada Granta 55.026
19 Masaki KANO BMW 320 TC 55.034
20 Tom BOARDMAN SEAT Leon WTCC 55.064
21 Charles NG BMW 320 TC 55.139
22 Marc BASSENG SEAT Leon WTCC 55.154
23 Yukinori TANIGUCHI BMW 320 TC 55.156
24 René MUNNICH SEAT Leon WTCC 55.616
25 Jeronimo BADARACO Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 55.699
26 Filipe de SOUZA Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 55.982
27 Henry HO BMW 320 si 56.002
28 Kin Veng NG Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T 56.501
29 Ka Lok MAK BMW 320 si 57.400

WTCR

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