Photo: WTCC Media

José María López tops first free practice session in Qatar

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Citroën Racing’s José María López was fastest of all in the first practice session of his final weekend in the WTCC for Citroën, leading the way by the best part of a second ahead of Lada’s Hugo Valente.

Polestar Cyan Racing’s Robert Dahlgren had set the first benchmark in the session in his Volvo S60, topping the time sheets with a time of 2:03.539, going fastest ahead of team-mate Thed Björk by just over a tenth of a second.

José María López was the closest threat to the Volvo pair in third after one lap in his factory Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, before the privateer Citroën of Mehdi Bennani took his place on his second run, with Hugo Valente setting the fourth fastest time in his Lada Vesta.

The session was then red flagged with less than ten minutes run after Daniel Nagy, in the independent Zengő Honda Civic, slid wide at the exit of Turn 7 and buried his car in the gravel trap.

The session was held under the red flag for 15 minutes as gravel was cleared from the exit of the corner and the Honda recovered.

When the session resumed, Lada Sport’s Hugo Valente quickly jumped to the top of the table with a time of 2:02.919 in his Lada Vesta, closely followed by the Volvo of Thed Björk, just over a tenth of a second behind, with both drivers’ cars not carrying any compensation weight this weekend.

Valente’s time kept him on top for less than a minute, before triple champion José María López went fastest of all with a time over seven tenths of a second faster in his Citroën C-Elysée, with López ending the session fastest ahead of Valente and Björk, though Valente was able to find another tenth in the dying moments of practice.

Robert Dahlgren was fourth fastest in his Volvo, while Rob Huff was the quickest of the Honda drivers in fifth, just over a second from López’s time.

Lada drivers Nicky Catsburg and Gabriele Tarquini, Citroën’s Yvan Muller, the Honda of Tiago Monteiro and the privateer Citroën of Mehdi Bennnai completed the top ten.

The cars are on track again at 9pm AST for the second free practice session, the final track activity for the day.