Citroën’s José María López set the pace in a drying first practice session for the World Touring Car Championship in Hungary, beating team-mate Yvan Muller and ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton.
López, who admitted he completed his fast lap on new tyres, was a comfortable 1.2 seconds faster even than team-mate Yvan Muller.
Citroën traded top times in the early minutes of the session as the times tumbled on a drying track, with Lópezand Muller both enjoying spells at the top early on.
Sébastien Loeb then joined the fray, posting the fastest time after 13 minutes with an effort of 1:51.741. Lopez immediately bettered this, before going fastest with just two minutes remaining.
Chevrolet driver Chilton ultimately ended the session in third, ahead of the top Honda of Tiago Monteiro. Loeb finished the session in fifth, 1.661 seconds off his team-mates pace.
Works Honda driver Gabriele Tarquini was sixth fastest, ahead of the Proteam Racing independent Civic of Mehdi Bennani.
Gianni Morbidelli was eighth fastest in the Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze, just over two seconds off the pace. Dušan Borković and local hero Norbert Michelisz completed the top ten, less than a tenth of a second further back.
Tom Coronel was 13th fastest and the slowest Chevrolet driver in his newly rebuilt car, with the Dutchman having admitted on Friday that there were still a few minor issues with the car in testing.
Franz Engstler was the top TC2 driver in 17th ahead of Liqui Moly Team Engstler team-mate Pasquale di Sabatino. Nika Racing’s Yukinori Taniguchi was 19th fastest on his return to the championship.
Second practice takes place at 12:00 CEST (11:00 BST).
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:49.494 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 14 | 1:50.774 | 1.280 |
| 3 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:50.905 | 1.411 |
| 4 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 9 | 1:51.071 | 1.577 |
| 5 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 15 | 1:51.155 | 1.661 |
| 6 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:51.182 | 1.688 |
| 7 | 25 | TC1 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:51.238 | 1.744 |
| 8 | 10 | TC1 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:51.517 | 2.023 |
| 9 | 98 | TC1 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
NIS Petrol by Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:51.562 | 2.068 |
| 10 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:51.564 | 2.070 |