Yvan Muller set the early pace during Thursday testing for the World Touring Car Championship at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, with the Citroën driver lapping in eight minutes 39 seconds, finishing ahead of team-mate José María López.
At a dry but overcast Nürburgring, Muller hit the top of the times in the closing minutes of the hour-long session, which also saw the field of the European Touring Car Championship share the 25.9 km circuit with the WTCC cars.
Reigning champion López was second fastest, having himself led the times for 20 minutes in the final half of the session. The Argentine ultimately ended up under a second of his team-mate’s pace.
Honda’s Rob Huff was third quickest, 2.27 seconds behind Muller, having lost out to López in the closing minutes of the session.
Tiago Monteiro put his Honda in fourth, a further two seconds adrift, whilst Tom Chilton was the leading independent driver in his Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën in fifth.
Hugo Valente was the leading LADA driver in seventh, just under seven seconds off the pace, whilst Polestar’s Thed Björk was the only one of the Volvo drivers to post a competitive time, ending the session in ninth.
The second Cyan Racing Volvo of Fredrik Ekblom suffered from a puncture on his only timed lap, leaving him at the bottom of the timesheets.
Nordschleife expert and new Top Gear presenter Sabine Schmitz, who is again competing in this year’s event at the wheel of a Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet, ended the session in 12th, having not completed any mileage in the car since her last appearance in 2015 prior to the session.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 8:39.950 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 8:40.827 | 0.877 | |
| 3 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 5 | 8:42.220 | 2.270 | |
| 4 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 6 | 8:44.512 | 4.562 | |
| 5 | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 8:45.380 | 5.430 |
| 6 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 8:46.095 | 6.145 | |
| 7 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 4 | 8:46.947 | 6.997 | |
| 8 | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 8:47.471 | 7.521 |
| 9 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 4 | 8:48.901 | 8.951 | |
| 10 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 4 | 8:49.923 | 9.973 | |
| 11 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 4 | 8:51.260 | 11.310 | |
| 12 | 8 | T | Sabine SCHMITZ |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 4 | 8:55.508 | 15.558 |
| 13 | 9 | T | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 2 | 8:55.547 | 15.597 |
| 14 | 27 | T | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 2 | 8:59.742 | 19.792 |
| 15 | 11 | T | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 9:03.509 | 23.559 |
| 16 | 55 | T | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 3 | 9:31.200 | 51.250 |
| 17 | 61 | Fredrik EKBLOM | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 3 | 13:30.382 | 4:50.432 |