Rob Huff leads the way in Marrakech testing
Rob Huff led an entertaining testing session for Honda, with José María López two tenths slower than the Brit for Citroën ahead of Norbert Michelisz, just one hundredth shy of the championship leader in the Honda Civic.
Early on in the session the Citroëns set the pace with López ahead of team-mate Yvan Muller and Independents’ Trophy leader Mehdi Bennani. It was not long before the Honda drivers started improving their lap times, though, with Huff leading ten minutes into the session as Yvan Muller made a small mistake at Turn 1, going wide and briefly off the track into the tarmac run-off area.
The short nature of the circuit made for an entertaining series of lead changes, with López retaking the lead four times until the Huff finally set the pace for Honda with four minutes to go, claiming the lead from team-mate Norbert Michelisz who was also a consistent presence in the top three through the session.
Just as the chequered flag was about to come out López made a final attempt after a long 8-minutes stop, resulting in the Argentinian to jump up to second, just a blink of an eye quicker than Michelisz. Tiago Monteiro finished fourth, the Portuguese driver also visiting the lead of the session briefly in the early stages, with Yvan Muller in the top five for Citroën.
Gabriele Tarquini was the best-placed Lada driver in sixth, ahead of team-mate Nicky Catsburg. Local hero Mehdi Bennani was the best Independents’ Trophy driver in the session, as James Thompson surprised the field to ninth in his Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1. Hugo Valente completed the top ten for Lada.
The Volvos seemed to struggle on the twisty Marrakech layout, with Thed Björk down in 13th just ahead of team-mate Fredrik Ekblom.
Action will resume tomorrow at 9:00 for free practice.
