Néstor Girolami tops both Motegi practice sessions

Polestar Cyan Racing’s new recruit, Néstor Girolami, topped both World Touring Car Championship practice sessions at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, as the Argentine made a strong start in the weight-free Volvo.

Girolami was a huge 1.402 seconds clear of LADA’s Nicky Catsburg in first practice, in a session which also saw regular Polestar driver Thed Björk end up third fastest.

“It was a very, very good start for us,” said Girolami. “We have new tyres but anyway the car was very, very good, it feels very nice with good grip. We will see in another session in Free Practice 2 the real times for the other drivers but it’s good starting P1.”

The gap was reduced in second practice, as lap times slowed by more than a second, with Girolami only just edging out Sébastien Loeb Racing duo Tom Chilton and Mehdi Bennani by 0.085 seconds.

Yvan Muller had the edge over his Citroën champion-elect team-mate José María López in first practice, the duo ending up fifth and sixth fastest respectively, whilst in second practice the positions were the same, but this time it was López who was the quicker of the duo.

Honda, who are carrying the same 80 kg of compensation weight as Citroën this weekend, appeared to struggle at their home circuit. In first practice Rob Huff was the leading Civic driver, going eighth fastest, some 2.338 seconds off the pace.

Then in second practice the closest Civic to the pace was that of Tiago Monteiro in seventh, who was just over half a second off the pace. His team-mates could only manage 13^th, 14^th and 15^th place respectively.

Honda’s débutee, Ryo Michigami, performed well in both sessions, ending up 12^th and 15^th respectively, crucially just on the tails of his more experienced team-mates in what is his first-ever race weekend in the WTCC.

Qualifying takes place at 15:00 local time (07:00 BST, 08:00 CEST).

Free Practice one results

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	81		Néstor GIROLAMI		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	9	1:56.437	0.000
2	10		Nicky CATSBURG		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	11	1:57.857	1.420
3	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	11	1:57.912	1.475
4	68		Yvan MULLER		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	9	1:58.134	1.697
5	37		José María LÓPEZ		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	10	1:58.302	1.865
6	2		Gabriele TARQUINI		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	9	1:58.333	1.896
7	7		Hugo VALENTE		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	10	1:58.455	2.018
8	12		Rob HUFF		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	11	1:58.775	2.338
9	18		Tiago MONTEIRO		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	12	1:58.914	2.477
10	27	T	John FILIPPI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	10	1:58.971	2.534
11	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	11	1:58.997	2.560
12	34		Ryo MICHIGAMI		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	10	1:58.998	2.561
13	25	T	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	13	1:59.069	2.632
14	3	T	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	11	1:59.392	2.955
15	9	T	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	10	1:59.625	3.188
16	15	T	James THOMPSON		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	12	1:59.654	3.217
17	11	T	Grégoire DEMOUSTIER		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	11	1:59.928	3.491
18	55	T	Ferenc FICZA		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	11	2:00.420	3.983
19	99		Dániel NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	10	2:01.724	5.287

Complete session results.

Free practice two results

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	81		Néstor GIROLAMI		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	10	1:57.646	0.000
2	3	T	Tom CHILTON		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	8	1:57.731	0.085
3	25	T	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	11	1:57.919	0.273
4	27	T	John FILIPPI		Campos Racing	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	11	1:58.025	0.379
5	37		José María LÓPEZ		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	9	1:58.056	0.410
6	68		Yvan MULLER		Citroën Total WTCC	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	10	1:58.068	0.422
7	18		Tiago MONTEIRO		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	12	1:58.157	0.511
8	10		Nicky CATSBURG		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	11	1:58.202	0.556
9	62		Thed BJÖRK		Polestar Cyan Racing	Volvo S60 WTCC	10	1:58.232	0.586
10	9	T	Tom CORONEL		ROAL Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	11	1:58.361	0.715
11	7		Hugo VALENTE		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	9	1:58.578	0.932
12	2		Gabriele TARQUINI		LADA Sport Rosneft	LADA Vesta WTCC	11	1:58.633	0.987
13	12		Rob HUFF		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	9	1:58.637	0.991
14	5		Norbert MICHELISZ		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	12	1:58.858	1.212
15	34		Ryo MICHIGAMI		Honda Racing Team JAS	Honda Civic WTCC	10	1:59.028	1.382
16	15	T	James THOMPSON		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1	11	1:59.065	1.419
17	11	T	Grégoire DEMOUSTIER		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Citroën C-Elysée WTCC	11	1:59.290	1.644
18	99	T	Dániel NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	11	1:59.809	2.163
19	55		Ferenc FICZA		Zengő Motorsport	Honda Civic WTCC	11	1:59.845	2.199

Complete session results.