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Vila Real, FP2 : Argentine WTCC aces shine in Portugal

“I am very happy and the car was amazing”

By Paul Gombeaud

11 July 2015 - 14:37

José María López and fellow Argentine Néstor Girolami were among the star performers during Free Practice 2 for OSCARO.com WTCC Race of Portugal.

López was fastest of all in his Citroën C-Elysée WTCC with Girolami (Honda Civic WTCC) third quickest in searing heat of the Vila Real streets, 0.279s adrift.

“I am very happy and the car was amazing,” said Girolami, who is making only his second appearance in the WTCC. “We pushed on new tyres to simulate the qualifying, which will be very, very difficult because one mistake can finish the weekend. We try to prepare and focus on the first step.”

Sébastien Loeb was 0.274s away from López in second with Ma Qing Hua fourth, home hero Tiago Monteiro fifth for Honda and Yvan Muller next up to make it four Citroëns in the top six. Rob Huff was the leading LADA Vesta runner in seventh with Mehdi Bennani the top Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy contender in eighth. Tom Coronel and Norbert Michelisz rounded out the top 10.

Free Practice 2 provided the final opportunity for drivers to work on set-up prior to Qualifying, which begins at 15h15 local time.

Pos.	Driver	Team	Car	Time
1	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:00.155
2	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:00.429
3	Nestor Girolami	Nika International	Honda	2:00.434
4	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:00.574
5	Tiago Monteiro	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	2:00.675
6	Yvan Muller	Citroen Total WTCC	Citroen	2:00.747
7	Robert Huff	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	2:01.339
8	Mehdi Bennani	Sebastien Loeb Racing	Citroen	2:01.412
9	Tom Coronel	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	2:01.465
10	Norbert Michelisz	Zengo Motorsport	Honda	2:01.766
11	Stefano D’Aste	Munnich Motorsport	Chevrolet	2:01.869
12	Hugo Valente	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	2:01.879
13	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda	2:02.912
14	Tom Chilton	ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet	2:03.146
15	Nicky Catsburg	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	2:03.194
16	Jaap Van Lagen	LADA Sport Rosneft	Lada	2:03.209
17	John Filippi	Campos Racing	Chevrolet	2:05.045
18	Grégoire Demoustier	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Chevrolet	2:05.148