Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk set the pace in the second free practice session ahead of this weekend’s World Touring Car Championship clash at the Hungaroring, edging out Lada Sport ROSENEFT’s Gabriele Tarquini and team mate Fredrik Ekblom.
The Volvo driver’s fastest lap time of 1:47.525 around the world-famous Grand Prix venue was 0.074 seconds faster than the LADA of Tarquini, set in frantic circumstances as three cars shared the top spot in the middle of the session.
Ekblom set the initial pace in the half-hour session, before Demoustier went faster in the Citroën. Meanwhile, Honda’ Tiago Monteiro, who enjoyed a near perfect weekend at the Slovakiaring last time out with a race victory and runners up trophy to take back to Portugal, went off and languished down in 13th, before later improving to 8th in the Honda Civic by the session’s conclusion.
Monteiro had briefly climbed as high up the time sheets as third, before a trio of drivers put in the fastest lap time as the times began to tumble. First it was Lopez, then Michelisz, before Bjork claimed the top spot he never looked likely to relinquish.
Ekblom improved once more to go second in the closing stages, before Tarquini entered the fray and claimed the runners up spot.
Björk heads into this afternoon’s qualifying session as the in-form man, but will not be starting from the front of the grid, due to his Volvo S60 requiring an engine change after the main race in Slovakia last week.
Qualifying for both races starts at 16.00 local time (15:00 BST)
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 12 | 1:47.525 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 13 | 1:47.599 | 0.074 | |
| 3 | 61 | Fredrik EKBLOM | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 12 | 1:47.738 | 0.213 | |
| 4 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:47.747 | 0.222 |
| 5 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:47.873 | 0.348 | |
| 6 | 9 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 1:47.895 | 0.370 |
| 7 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 1:47.952 | 0.427 | |
| 8 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:47.966 | 0.441 | |
| 9 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:47.989 | 0.464 | |
| 10 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:48.029 | 0.504 |
| 11 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 1:48.190 | 0.665 | |
| 12 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 1:48.297 | 0.772 | |
| 13 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:48.412 | 0.887 |
| 14 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 1:48.451 | 0.926 | |
| 15 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 6 | 1:48.894 | 1.369 |
| 16 | 77 | Y | René MÜNNICH |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 1:49.862 | 2.337 |
| 17 | 55 | Y | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:50.124 | 2.599 |