Yvan Muller was fastest in the second World Touring Car Championship practice session in Marrakech, heading a Citroen 1-2-3 from Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Loeb.
While the session saw the Citroen trio continuing to lead the way, it was more notable for a crash between Gianni Morbidelli and Gabriele Tarquini which brought the session to a standstill.
Muller set the early benchmark time in the session with a 1:45.962, going faster on his second lap with Lopez hot on his heals after navigating his way around Loeb.
But the session was halted shortly afterwards when Morbidelli slammed into the side of Tarquini’s Honda Civic going into the second chicane. Tarquini had initially got his braking wrong going into the corner and used the run-off at he side of the track, but as he attempted to rejoin the track his compatriot straight-lined the chicane and crashed into the former, damaging the kerb in the process.
With neither car able to pull away, the session was red flagged and a lengthy delay ensued before the remaining cars were allowed to return to the track with 22 minutes remaining.
While everyone else seemed to be taking time to get up to speed, Muller was straight back on the pace as he went slightly slower on his first lap before blitzing his previous best with a 1:43.998.
Both of his teammates then had issues at turn one in their C-Elysees, with Loeb having a half-spin and Lopez having to use the run-off, but the latter remained unfazed and with his next effort went a full second quicker with just under half of the session remaining.
There was another lull in the action as a yellow flag was shown for debris, but with just a minute remaining of the session, Muller pushed his name back to the top of the standings with a 1:43.437 – just 0.063s ahead of Lopez, with Loeb a further second behind.
Tom Chilton moved into fourth with five minutes remaining after a trouble-free session and Dusan Borkovic continuing his strong form with fifth, ahead of Hugo Valente and Rob Huff, who recovered after a disappointing morning session.
Mehdi Bennani, Rene Munnich and Norbert Michelisz rounded out the top ten, with Tiago Monteiro and teammate Tarquini ending up in 11th and 12th respectively, completing just five laps between them as the works’ Honda team continue to struggle. Their problems have since been further compounded by the news that Tarquini will not be able to compete for the rest of the weekend, with the damage sustained in the crash too significant to repair.
Franz Engstler was the fastest TC2 driver once more, as he led Petr Fulin for the third successive session with the pair separated by two-tenths-of-a-second.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:43.437 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:43.500 | 0.063 |
| 3 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:44.572 | 1.135 |
| 4 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:44.975 | 1.538 |
| 5 | 98 | TC1 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
NIS Petrol by Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 9 | 1:45.264 | 1.827 |
| 6 | 7 | TC1 | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 7 | 1:45.528 | 2.091 |
| 7 | 12 | TC1 | Rob HUFF | |
LADA Sport Lukoil | LADA Granta 1.6T | 7 | 1:45.695 | 2.258 |
| 8 | 25 | TC1 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:46.154 | 2.717 |
| 9 | 77 | TC1 | René MÜNNICH |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:46.254 | 2.817 |
| 10 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 4 | 1:47.030 | 3.593 |