Esteban Guerrieri fastest again as José María López gets closer
Esteban Guerrieri once again led the way in the second free practice session at Termas de Río Hondo, after having also set the fastest time in the first session in his Campos Racing Chevrolet Cruze. The gaps have come down significantly since FP1 however, with José María López having closed to one tenth of a second in his C-Elysée WTCC, while his Citroën Racing team-mate Yvan Muller finished third.
The session had started positively for the championship leader, as he was fastest in the early stages ahead of the three factory Hondas, with Norbert Michelisz ahead of Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro, followed by Muller. However, eight minutes into the session, Guerrieri took the lead by over half a second.
It took the Citroën drivers less than ten minutes to rectify the situation in their favour, with López re-taking the lead by clocking a 1:43.386, jumping ahead of Yvan Muller, shortly joined by Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton who went third fastest, making it a provisional 1-2-3 for the French cars.
Just as the chequered flag fell, Guerrieri went faster still on his final run, one tenth quicker than championship leader López, with Muller and Chilton slipping down to third and fourth respectively.
Tiago Monteiro finished the session fifth ahead of Honda team-mate Huff, while Tom Coronel managed a positive seventh in his ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1. Norbert Michelisz finished the session eighth ahead of Münnich Chevrolet’s James Thompson, with Campos Racing’s John Filippi completing the top ten.
The Volvos continue to struggle, with Robert Dahlgren the highest-placed driver of the Swedish manufacturer in 16th. Lada also seem to have lost the pace they had shown in this morning’s session, with Nicky Catsburg going no further than 12th and Gabriele Tarquini stopping his Vesta TC1 on the track due to a technical issue with two minutes to go, while also running outside the top ten.
Qualifying is next and is scheduled for 15:00 ART/20:00 CET.
