Tiago Monteiro leads wet final practice session in Russia

Honda’s Tiago Monteiro led the way in the final practice session at the Moscow Raceway, finishing ahead of Honda team-mate Norbert Michelisz. Lada’s Gabriele Tarquini was third, with Lada emerging as Honda’s closest threat for pole position while Citroën continue to struggle in Russia.

Rain began to fall just ahead of the session, with drivers quickly abandoning slick tyres for wets. Honda and Lada drivers were the only ones to hold the top spot during the session, with first Rob Huff fastest at the start, setting a time just under two-minutes around the 3.9km circuit.

Gabriele Tarquini then placed the Lada Vesta WTCC on top of the time sheets as the conditions began to improve, before Tarquini’s former Honda team-mate Monteiro swept to the top on a time of 1:57.078, which was soon beaten again by Tarquini by just 0.037 seconds.

Monteiro and Tarquini continued to swap P1 throughout the remainder of the session, with Monteiro ending up on top at the end of the session with a best lap of 1:55.547, almost 20 seconds off the ultimate dry weather pace around the track.

Norbert Michelisz wound up second fastest, just over a quarter of a second behind Monteiro, with Tarquini dropped to third in the final moments.

The third quickest of the Hondas was Rob Huff in fourth, while Hugo Valente was fifth in his Lada, just over a second from Monteiro’s time.

James Thompson emerged as the best privateer and Chevrolet driver, setting the sixth best time in the tricky conditions in the Münnich Motorsport Cruze, while the fastest Citroën was that of Yvan Muller in seventh, with his championship leading team-mate José María López tenth quickest, over two seconds adrift.

Qualifying is next up at 14:00 local time (13:00 CET).