Reigning champion José María López set the pace in a damp first test session for the World Touring Car Championship at Circuit Paul Ricard, beating Citroën team-mate Yvan Muller by 0.476 seconds.
In a session which took place entirely on a wet track, López posted a best time of 1:44.077, more than ten seconds slower than the lap record.
Muller was second quickest throughout the half-hour session, whilst new Honda works driver Norbert Michelisz was third fastest, 0.648 seconds off the pace.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani and Tom Chilton were fourth and fifth fastest respectively, meaning that the dominant C-Elysée filled four out of the top five positions.
ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel was the leading Chevrolet driver in sixth, the first driver to be over a second off the pace, ahead of the leading LADA of Nicky Catsburg in seventh.
Honda’s Tiago Monteiro was eighth, ahead of former team-mate Gabriele Tarquini in ninth, who was still getting accustomed to his new LADA in the wet weather.
The third SLR Citroën of Grégoire Demoustier completed the top ten, over two seconds slower than López.
On their débuts for their new works teams LADA and Honda, Hugo Valente and Rob Huff ended the session in 11th and 12th respectively.
Newcomers Polestar Cyan Racing could only manage 14th and 15th respectively for Fredrik Ekblom and Thed Björk, with both Swedes over five seconds off the pace in their new Volvo S60 cars.
Münnich Motorsport’s René Münnich propped up the timesheets for those who managed a time, in 16th overall.
Neither of Zengő Motorsport’s new drivers Ferenc Ficza or Dániel Nagy completed any running in their Honda Civic cars.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 37 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:44.077 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 68 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:44.553 | 0.476 | |
| 3 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:44.725 | 0.648 | |
| 4 | 25 | Y | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:44.826 | 0.749 |
| 5 | 3 | Y | Tom CHILTON |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 12 | 1:44.849 | 0.772 |
| 6 | 9 | Y | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 1:45.437 | 1.360 |
| 7 | 10 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 15 | 1:45.774 | 1.697 | |
| 8 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:45.856 | 1.779 | |
| 9 | 2 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 11 | 1:45.874 | 1.797 | |
| 10 | 11 | Y | Grégoire DEMOUSTIER | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:46.328 | 2.251 |
| 11 | 7 | Hugo VALENTE | |
LADA Sport Rosneft | LADA Vesta WTCC | 14 | 1:47.306 | 3.229 | |
| 12 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Honda Racing Team JAS | Honda Civic WTCC | 13 | 1:47.661 | 3.584 | |
| 13 | 27 | Y | John FILIPPI | |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:48.477 | 4.400 |
| 14 | 61 | Fredrik EKBLOM |  |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 11 | 1:49.567 | 5.490 | |
| 15 | 62 | Thed BJÖRK | |
Polestar Cyan Racing | Volvo S60 WTCC | 11 | 1:50.022 | 5.945 | |
| 16 | 77 | Y | René MÜNNICH |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:52.820 | 8.743 |
| 17 | 55 | Y | Ferenc FICZA | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 0 | No time | N/A |
| 18 | 99 | Y | Dániel NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 0 | No time | N/A |