RML’s Yvan Muller set the pace during testing for the World Touring Car Championship in China, as the new champion set a lap time of 1:55.643 to beat ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel by 0.193 seconds.
Click here for the full testing times.
Tom Chilton was third fastest, ahead of Tuenti Racing’s Pepe Oriola in fourth, who was more than half a second off Muller’s time.
James Thompson put his LADA in fifth, despite causing a red flag late in the session when he knocked a pile of tyres into the track at Turn 4b. As a result Thompson effectively caused the end of the session.
Alex MacDowall was the top Independent driver in fifth, just 0.005 seconds faster than the leading Honda of Gabriele Tarquini in seventh. Tarquini was closely matched by his Honda team-mate Tiago Monteiro in eighth, with the Portugese driver just 0.057 seconds slower.
James Nash and Darryl O’Young completed the top ten for bamboo-engineering and ROAL Motorsport respectively, with O’Young the first driver over a second off the pace, 1.373 seconds adrift of Muller’s time.
WTCC returnee Rickard Rydell – making his first appearance since the 2012 season opener at Monza – was 11th fastest in the Nika Racing Chevrolet.
Marc Basseng outpaced Münnich Motorsport team-mate Rob Huff as the duo posted 12th and 13th fastest times, although Huff’s final lap was scuppered by the late red flag. Nevertheless the Brit showed good speed during testing, setting the pace in the early stages.
Thed Björk, who is making his WTCC début this weekend, was 15th fastest in the Polestar Volvo, which is making a one-off reappearance in the series this weekend.
Filipe Clemente de Souza was the top driver in the EuroSport Asia Trophy, ending the session 25th fastest and 6.479 seconds off the pace.
First Free Practice takes place at 08:00 CST on Saturday (00:00 GMT; 01:00 CET).