Suzuka, FP1: Tarquini chases Muller and López

Gabriele Tarquini set the third fastest lap in the first practice session, just behind Yvan Muller and José María López.

Muller topped the time sheet since the beginning of the session: he clocked a provisional fastest lap of 2:08.088 on his first outing and improved to 2:08.066 on the following lap. No one was able to be faster.

López settled in second position with a lap of 2:08.633 and Tarquini climbed to third (2:09.028) ahead of his team-mate Tiago Monteiro (2:09.176).

Hugo Valente, in fifth position, was the fastest of the Chevrolet drivers once again (2:09.209), while Sébastien Loeb ranked sixth (2:09.275).

Norbert Michelisz, Tom Chilton, Tom Coronel and Dušan Borković filled the positions between seventh and tenth, relegating the LADA cars of Rob Huff and James Thompson in 11th and 12th. Mehdi Bennani’s Honda car continued to suffer from technical problems and the Moroccan driver was forced to stay in the pits for most of the session.

In the TC2T class Franz Engstler set the pace (2:15.974), two tenths faster than John Filippi. Newcomer Henry Kwong had a moment when he spun at T7 and brushed the Armco barrier with the nose of his SEAT car.