Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb was the fastest driver during the morning of the official World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) media day test in Barcelona, beating Mehdi Bennani by 0.875 seconds.
Loeb led the way during the session, sporting the new livery on his works Citroën C-Elysée. He was followed by the only other Citroën driver who took to the track in the morning, with Bennani second fastest driving the car entered by Loeb’s new-for-2015 WTCC team.
Tiago Monteiro was the fastest Honda driver in third, 1.347 seconds off the pace, with JAS Motorsport team-mate Gabriele Tarquini just four thousandths of a second behind in fourth.
TC1 newcomer John Filippi was fifth fastest in his Campos Racing Chevrolet Cruze, ahead of Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz and Campos Racing team-mate Hugo Valente in seventh.
Not all drivers and teams are participating in the Spanish test, with Russian outfit LADA testing their new Vesta WTCC at Magny-Cours in France. Others, such as Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Grégoire Demoustier, are not present at the test as they are waiting for their cars to be completed.
The afternoon test session begins at 14:00 local time.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 1:49.972 | ||
| 2 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 1:50.847 | 0.875 |
| 3 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:51.319 | 1.347 | |
| 4 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:51.323 | 1.351 | |
| 5 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:51.723 | 1.751 |
| 6 | 5 | Y | Norbert Michelisz |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 1:52.045 | 2.073 |
| 7 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 1:53.745 | 3.773 |