Suzuka, FP2 - Barth chases the Chevrolet trio

The second practice took place in very tricky conditions; the track was still damp, but the racing lines began to dry out as the session went on.

This resulted in lap times being dramatically improved, but also in some drivers taking risks and making mistakes, especially between the East Shortcut and the last turn where Darryl O’Young, Rob Huff and Gabriele Tarquini spoiled quick laps by driving wide onto the run-off area.

Eventually the session was red-flagged, and not resumed, with three minutes left on the clock after Fabio Fabiani spun off at Turn 3, his BMW stalled across the inside kerb.
The Chevrolet trio posted the fastest laps, with Alain Menu (54.205) outpacing his team-mates Rob Huff (54.570) and Yvan Muller (54.807).

Fredy Barth emerged as the best of the rest (and the Yokohama Trophy), completing a lap in 54.879 that placed him fourth, just ahead of Tiago Monteiro (54.924).

Toshihiro Arai in the fourth works Chevrolet Cruze car set an impressive sixth fastest lap (55.073), followed by the equally impressive Hiroki Yoshimoto (55.226) with the seventh SUNRED León 1.6T car. The BMW trio of Mehdi Bennani, Colin Turkington and Franz Engstler rounded up the top ten.

As for Tarquini, he was forced by the red flag to abort his last attempt.