Photo: WTCC Media

Jordi Gené tops first practice

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Jordi Gené of SEAT Sport topped the timesheet in the first free practice in Valencia. The local man clocked a 1:44.633 in the closing minutes, which was 0.084 of a second faster than his team-mate Yvan Muller. Nicola Larini of Chevrolet was the third fastest, 0.253 off the pace.

BMW Team UK’s Andy Priaulx was the best BMW of the outing, fourth overall with a time of 1:44.889. Tiago Monteiro of SEAT Sport and Robert Huff of Chevrolet followed.

Roberto Colciago set the pace for the independent drivers with a lap of 1:45.165 placing him a respectable 7th overall ahead of Jörg Müller, Tom Coronel and Alain Menu who completed the top ten.

The 11th quickest time was 1:45.432 courtesy of James Thompson for the Alfa Romeo N.technology team.

Valencia’s boys Félix Porteiro and Sergio Hernández were separated by only 0.044 seconds and were classified 14th and 15th respectively.

Emmet O’Brien, the Irishman from GR Asia, was the only driver to make a mistake as he strayed into the gravel at turn 11 in the early stages of the session.