Tiago Monteiro topped the times in second practice for the World Touring Car Championship in Qatar, ahead of team-mate Norbert Michelisz, as all five Hondas made it into the top ten.
Monteiro hit the top of the times with five minutes left of the session, the Portuguese driver’s lap of 2:01.476 being good enough to keep him at the top of the timesheets for the rest of the session.
Michelisz had been lapping at a pace good enough for the top ten, before he put in a strong lap late on to go second, just 0.064 seconds behind his factory Honda team-mate.
LADA’s Hugo Valente, who had earlier been second fastest in first practice, continued to impress with his pace in the Qatari desert, with the Frenchman also improving late on to go third.
The session was earlier red-flagged at the half-way stage when ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel lost his front-left wheel at Turn 6, with the Dutchman unable to limp all the way back to the pits. A lengthy 15-minute pause followed, but Coronel’s session was over, leaving him in 16th and with no more preparation time ahead of Friday’s qualifying session.
The afternoon’s earlier pace-setter José María López was fourth fastest, putting his Citroën within four tenths of the pace, having earlier topped the times with seven minutes to go.
LADA’s Gabriele Tarquini was fifth fastest, ahead of Honda’s Rob Huff in sixth, the latter having failed to improve his time after going fastest with eight minutes left.
It was an impressive session for the remaining two Hondas being run by the independent Zengő Motorsport team. Dániel Nagy was seventh quickest, ahead of the independent Citroën of Mehdi Bennani in eighth, whilst Ferenc Ficza was also in the top ten in ninth.
Münnich Motorsport’s James Thompson completed the top ten as the leading Chevrolet RML driver, having improved his time at the very end.
Yvan Muller, competing for the last time in the WTCC, failed to crack the top ten in the session, ending up in 11th and 1.3 seconds off the pace.
Qualifying takes place at 14:30 local time on Friday (11:30 GMT, 12:30 CET0, with both races set to follow later the same day on Friday evening.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 2:01.476 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 2:01.540 | 0.064 | |
| 3 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 12 | 2:01.794 | 0.318 | |
| 4 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 2:02.152 | 0.676 | |
| 5 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 9 | 2:02.169 | 0.693 | |
| 6 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 2:02.191 | 0.715 | |
| 7 | 99 | T | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 2:02.418 | 0.942 |
| 8 | 25 | T | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 2:02.460 | 0.984 |
| 9 | 55 | T | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 2:02.501 | 1.025 |
| 10 | 15 | T | James THOMPSON | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 2:02.525 | 1.049 |
| 11 | 68 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 2:02.775 | 1.299 | |
| 12 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 2:02.820 | 1.344 | |
| 13 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 5 | 2:02.985 | 1.509 | |
| 14 | 63 | Robert DAHLGREN | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 10 | 2:03.164 | 1.688 | |
| 15 | 3 | T | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 2:03.543 | 2.067 |
| 16 | 11 | T | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 9 | 2:03.645 | 2.169 |
| 17 | 27 | T | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 13 | 2:03.939 | 2.463 |
| 18 | 9 | T | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 4 | 2:04.087 | 2.611 |