Tiago Monteiro tops unofficial testing in Hungary

Castrol Honda’s Tiago Monteiro was fastest in a private test at the Hungaroring today, with all four Hondas, two Ladas and the Chevrolet of Tom Chilton all working on development of their cars ahead of this weekend’s race at the nearby Slovakiaring.

The Portuguese driver was three-tenths of a second faster than his lap from qualifying on Saturday, which had put him fourth on the grid, with team-mate Gabriele Tarquini within a tenth of a second in the sister Honda Civic WTCC.

Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Bennani was third fastest, just over a tenth of a second down, with Tom Chilton fourth quickest in the ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze, the only Chevrolet RML driver present at the test.

Rob Huff set the fifth fastest time in his LADA Sport Lukoil Granta Sport, almost a second faster than his qualifying pace from the weekend, with Norbert Michelisz slower than his weekend pace in sixth in the Zengo Motorsport Honda, and with James Thompson seventh of the seven runners in his Lada Granta, which is still running with an incomplete parts package in comparison with his team-mate’s car.

The championship leading Citroën Total WTCC team are not taking part in the test.