Photo: Citroën Racing

José María López leads the way in Losail Free Practice 1

2015 WTCC champion José María López was fastest of all in the second session of the day at the Losail circuit in Qatar, which was run under floodlights with the session taking place at 7pm local time.

The Citroën driver lapped the circuit with a best time of 2:02.170 in the 30 minute session, leading the time sheets throughout as he continued to find time in the car.

López was four-tenths of a second faster than Mehdi Bennani in the privateer Citroën C-Elysée WTCC of Sébastien Loeb Racing, with Sébastien Loeb third fastest overall, completing a Citroën 1-2-3.

In fourth place was Münnich Motorsport’s Stefano D’Aste, the best placed of the Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1s, with Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini in fifth,the last driver within a second of López’s time.

Nicky Catsburg was the best placed Lada driver in eighth, while Rob Huff set his first laps after missing the first session due to a gearbox oil leak and was 16th fastest in the sister Lada.

Tiago Monteiro, who missed testing due to a turbo issue, was 12th fastest in the Castrol Honda Civic, while Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah was 17th fastest in the Campos Racing Chevrolet Cruze on his WTCC debut weekend.

There were no incidents or stoppages during the 30 minute session. Free Practice 2 is the final track activity for Thursday and gets underway at 21:30 AST.