Honda’s Norbert Michelisz stated his intent in first practice for the World Touring Car Championship season finale in Qatar by beating Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff and Volvo title rival Thed Björk to the top time.
Michelisz hit the top of the times after around 15 minutes of the 45-minute session and he remained there for the remainder, initially with a lap of 2 minutes 1.775 seconds before improving in the final seconds to a 2:01.595.
Second was Rob Huff in his Citroën, just over two tenths behind, whilst Polestar’s championship leader Thed Björk was third fastest, three tenths slower than his title rival.
In fact, the three factory Volvo’s ended up together in the classification, with Nicky Catsburg going fourth fastest ahead of the returning Yvan Muller in fifth, who by being just under eight tenths off the pace showed he had lost none of his speed despite a year out of racing.
Honda’s Esteban Guerrieri was sixth, the only other driver to be within a second of the pace, ahead of Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani in seventh.
Yann Ehrlacher was the leading independent racer in eighth in his RC Motorsport LADA, ahead of SLR’s Tom Chilton in ninth. Chilton only completed four laps in the session after clouting a tyre stack early on and curtailing his running with damage to his Citroën.
The third SLR Citroën of John Filippi completed the top ten with a lap just two tenths slower than his more experienced team-mate directly ahead of him.
The session had earlier been red-flagged briefly when Campos Racing’s Kris Richard stopped on circuit after just over half an hour and his Chevrolet had to be recovered; he ended up in 11th overall.
Second practice is scheduled for 21:15 local time (18:15 GMT, 19:15 CET).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 2:01.595 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 15 | 2:01.806 | 0.211 |
| 3 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 14 | 2:01.915 | 0.320 |
| 4 | 63 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 15 | 2:01.984 | 0.389 |
| 5 | 64 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 Polestar | 10 | 2:02.366 | 0.771 |
| 6 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 2:02.537 | 0.942 |
| 7 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 14 | 2:03.029 | 1.434 |
| 8 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 19 | 2:03.715 | 2.120 |
| 9 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 4 | 2:03.761 | 2.166 |
| 10 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 14 | 2:03.980 | 2.385 |
| 11 | 11 | Kris RICHARD |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 2:04.164 | 2.569 |
| 12 | 9 | Tom CORONEL | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 15 | 2:04.251 | 2.656 |
| 13 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
RC Motorsport | LADA Vesta WTCC | 18 | 2:04.605 | 3.010 |
| 14 | 34 | Ryo MICHIGAMI |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 8 | 2:04.983 | 3.388 |
| 15 | 99 | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 7 | 2:05.364 | 3.769 |
| 16 | 66 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ | |
Zengő Motorsport Kft | Honda Civic WTCC | 15 | 2:06.356 | 4.761 |