Sébastien Loeb was the fastest man in his first World Touring Car Championship practice session, beating teammate Yvan Muller and ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel as the Citroens continued to dominate on the streets of Marrakech.
The session got off to a quiet start, with Norbert Michelisz and Mehdi Bennani posting the opening times of the day.
Times quickly tumbled however, and the Citroen trio of Loeb, Muller and José María López moved in to occupy the first three positions respectively.
It took until the half distance for any changes to occur in that group, but with half of the session remaining Muller beat Loeb’s time to go fastest on a 1:43.654 – although Loeb retook first place with his next lap in the C-Elysee, with his effort of 1:43.427 more than a second faster than the times set during yesterday’s testing session.
Tom Chilton moved into fourth ahead of teammate Coronel shortly afterwards, but it was the latter who became the first man to break the Citroen stranglehold at the front, taking third with a 1:44.883 despite having to pass Tiago Monteiro into turn 15. His time was nonetheless still more than a second away from the second car of Muller.
Bennani and Dušan Borković then took fourth spot successively, before Hugo Valente sealed the spot after setting the fastest first sector of all at the time.
Chilton was a little over-zealous in pursuit of his teammate, getting his entry and exit into the chicane at the end of the lap slightly wrong to cross the line in fifth, although his time of 1:45.003 was still enough to make him comfortably the fastest of the British drivers.
There had been few incidents of note throughout the session, but first practice came to an abrupt end for Monteiro as he stopped his Honda Civic on the exit of the pitlane with smoke coming out of the front of his car.
With less than two minutes remaining, waved yellow flags to cover the incident meant that few cars were able to improve on their time, but there was more drama to come as Coronel lost control of his Cruze, bringing the session to an end a minute-and-a-half early.
Having started his lap before Monteiro’s problems, the Dutchman set the fastest first and second sectors of the session but in his pursuit of the leading two cars, he carried too much speed into the chicane at the end of the lap and clouted the wall at turn 14, before bouncing into the barrier on the other side of the track and coming to a stop.
Borković’s effort meant that RML’s Cruze package occupied positions three to six, with the Serbian a little under two-tenths-of-a-second ahead of Bennani, who just managed to eclipse the early time set by Lopez, who completed just five laps in his C-Elysée to take eighth spot.
Gianni Morbidelli posted the ninth fastest time of the session in the Munnich Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze, ahead of the ailing Monteiro who was the last man to get within two seconds of Loeb’s time.
The session was a disappointing one for the LADA team, as Rob Huff was again the fastest of the marquee’s three drivers, although this time in 14th place. Huff was in touch with his nearest rivals, but teammate Mikhail Kozlovskiy was more than a second-and-a-half behind him in 15th, while James Thompson’s struggles continued as managed just three laps in the Granta, failing to set a time in the process.
Franz Engstler was once again the quickest driver in the TC2 category, with his effort of 1:49.098 good enough for 16th, one place and three-quarters-of-a-second ahead of Petr Fulín.
Second practice takes place at 11:15 BST (12:15 CEST).
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 1:43.427 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 1:43.654 | 0.227 |
| 3 | 4 | TC1 | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 1:44.883 | 1.456 |
| 4 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 1:44.998 | 1.571 |
| 5 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:45.003 | 1.576 |
| 6 | 98 | TC1 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
NIS Petrol by Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 1:45.076 | 1.649 |
| 7 | 25 | TC1 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 1:45.247 | 1.820 |
| 8 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 5 | 1:45.272 | 1.845 |
| 9 | 10 | TC1 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:45.287 | 1.860 |
| 10 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:45.326 | 1.899 |