Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff emerged as the early pace setter for the World Touring Car Championship event at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, lapping the circuit just over half a second faster than Honda’s Norbert Michelisz.
On a sunny and warm morning at the legendary circuit, Huff had been the first to go to the top of the times around the 25.9 km circuit, initially with a lap of 8 minutes 47.223 seconds.
The Brit then went even faster on his second run, with a time of 8 minutes 43.511 seconds, before improving again by over two seconds at the end of the session to end the hour-long test with a time of 8 minutes 41.255 seconds.
That time compares to a pole position lap of 8 minutes 35.541 seconds, set by Citroën driver José María López in 2016, suggesting that there is still some way to go for drivers to improve their times this weekend.
Impressively, given the length of the 170-turn circuit, Michelisz was only just over half a second further back in his Civic, with the third-placed Polestar Volvo of Nicky Catsburg also within a second.
Sébastien Loeb Racing duo Mehdi Bennani and Tom Chilton were fourth and fifth fastest, 1.4 and 2.5 seconds off the pace respectively.
Championship leader Tiago Monteiro was sixth, less than three seconds off the pace, ahead of Polestar rival Thed Björk in seventh.
The leading Chevrolet RML driver was ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel in eighth, ahead of the leading RC Motorsport LADA of Yann Ehrlacher in ninth.
Tenth-placed Esteban Guerrieri was the last of the drivers to be within ten seconds of the pace in his Campos Racing Chevrolet Cruze.
Zengő Motorsport’s Dániel Nagy failed to post a time and was the only driver to not record a timed lap, although he did take to the circuit in his Honda.
First practice takes place at 17:50 BST (18:50 CEST) on Thursday.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 5 | 8:41.255 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 4 | 8:41.916 | 0.661 |
| 3 | 63 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 5 | 8:42.142 | 0.887 |
| 4 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 5 | 8:42.685 | 1.430 |
| 5 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 5 | 8:43.801 | 2.546 |
| 6 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 4 | 8:44.083 | 2.828 |
| 7 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 5 | 8:45.581 | 4.326 |
| 8 | 9 | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 4 | 8:45.878 | 4.623 |
| 9 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 5 | 8:48.281 | 7.026 |
| 10 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 4 | 8:51.230 | 9.975 |
| 11 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 8:53.971 | 12.716 |
| 12 | 61 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 5 | 8:55.073 | 13.818 |
| 13 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 5 | 8:56.805 | 15.550 |
| 14 | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 4 | 8:57.409 | 16.154 |
| 15 | 8 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 2 | 9:20.296 | 39.041 |
| 16 | 99 | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 2 | No time | N/A |