Citroën’s José María López was more than half a second faster than his nearest rival, team-mate Yvan Muller, in Friday testing for the second World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) meeting of the year in Morocco.
Championship leader López was fastest early on in the session, posting initially a lap time of 1:45.798 before team-mate Muller went quickest around half-way through the session. Responding in the closing minutes, the Argentine went on to improve his lap by almost a second, putting him 0.581 seconds clear of Muller.
Third fastest was local driver Mehdi Bennani, with the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver proving he can keep pace with the works Citroëns by being the only other driver within a second of the pace.
Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente was an impressive fourth fastest and the top Chevrolet driver, just over a second off the pace. The Frenchman is running with an upgraded RML engine this weekend. Ma Qing Hua was fifth, ahead of works’ Honda driver Tiago Monteiro in sixth. All three drivers were separated by less than a tenth of a second.
Sébastien Loeb ended the session in seventh as the slowest of the Citroëns. Completing the top ten were ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel, Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini and Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Michelisz.
Rob Huff was the top LADA driver in 12th, over two seconds off the pace, whilst team-mates Mikhail Kozlovskiy and James Thompson were 15th and 17th respectively.
During the session 18 cars took to the track, with Swede Rickard Rydell being the only absentee due to having withdrawn from the event due to illness.
Top ten times
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:44.834 | ||
| 2 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:45.415 | 0.581 | |
| 3 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:45.461 | 0.627 |
| 4 | 7 | Y | Hugo VALENTE | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:45.842 | 1.008 |
| 5 | 33 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:45.867 | 1.033 | |
| 6 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:45.895 | 1.061 | |
| 7 | 9 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:46.279 | 1.445 | |
| 8 | 4 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:46.471 | 1.637 |
| 9 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:46.485 | 1.651 | |
| 10 | 5 | Y | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:46.916 | 2.082 |