Photo: WTCC Media

Yvan Muller fastest in first practice in Hungary

By

Yvan Muller broke last year’s lap record at the Hungaroring in free practice in the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T, finishing ahead of Gabriele Tarquini’s SEAT with the Lada Granta of James Thompson making its WTCC track debut.

Muller’s best lap of 1:55.594 was over a second faster than Chevrolet team-mate Alain Menu’s pole time from last year, but the reigning championship was just a fraction of a second ahead of Lukoil SEAT driver Gabriele Tarquini, who was 0.065 seconds behind.

Alain Menu was third fastest ahead of local hero Norbert Michelisz, the top classified independent driver, with Rob Huff fifth.

Joining the session just under 10 minutes in was the Lada Granta Sport of James Thompson, making its WTCC debut this weekend at the Hungaroring. Four-time WTCC race winner Thompson was setting times regularly within two seconds of Muller’s time, and finished the session 19th of the 22 runners.

Several drivers were warned for exceeding the track limits in the session, including Engstler Motorsport driver Franz Engstler, Zengõ Motorsport’s Gábor Wéber and Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani, the latter also getting a black/white flag final warning.

The next session takes place at 11:15 CET.