Honda’s Tiago Monteiro was the fastest driver in first practice for the World Touring Car Championship in Morocco, as Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff missed the session after failing scrutineering.
Few drivers posted times early on in the 45-minute session, resulting in a very casual start to the new WTCC season. Eventually a handful of drivers ventured out, and it was Japanese Ryo Michigami who put in the first meaningful time, before Polestar’s Nicky Catsburg took over just before the 20-minute mark.
Monteiro then hit the top of the times at the half-way stage in the session, initially with a time of 1:23.010 before improving by almost two tenths. On his last run in the session Monteiro went even better, setting a benchmark of 1 minute 22.685 seconds, which is still over a second shy of the lap record set in 2016.
Moroccan hero Mehdi Bennani was second fastest in his Citroën, albeit over seven tenths further back, whilst his team-mate Tom Chilton was third.
Thed Björk was the leading Polestar Volvo driver in fourth and the last to be within a second of the leading Honda’s pace.
There was drama even before the session began, as the favourite Citroën of Huff failed to participate in the session due to failing the scrutineering checks. It puts Huff’s preparations this weekend on the back foot, with the Brit not certain to be able to take part in second practice either.
The second works Honda of Norbert Michelisz completed five laps but failed to post a meaningful time, whilst the Zengő Motorsport Civic of Aurélien Panis also missed the session.
Second practice takes place at 11:45 BST (12:45 CEST) followed by qualifying at 15:15 BST (16:15 CEST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 1:22.685 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 1:23.463 | 0.778 |
| 3 | 3 | Tom CHILTON |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:23.579 | 0.894 |
| 4 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 12 | 1:23.593 | 0.908 |
| 5 | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 20 | 1:23.926 | 1.241 |
| 6 | 61 | Néstor GIROLAMI |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 14 | 1:24.126 | 1.441 |
| 7 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 18 | 1:24.139 | 1.454 |
| 8 | 63 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 13 | 1:24.530 | 1.845 |
| 9 | 9 | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:24.669 | 1.984 |
| 10 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 23 | 1:24.767 | 2.082 |
| 11 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 1:24.777 | 2.092 |
| 12 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 20 | 1:24.937 | 2.252 |
| 13 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ | |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 5 | No time | N/A |
| 14 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 0 | No time | N/A |
| 15 | 8 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 0 | No time | N/A |