WTCC: Lopez sets pace in Paul Ricard test

World Touring Car Championship leader Jose Maria Lopez set the fastest time in the test for round two of the WTCC at Paul Ricard on Friday.

Lopez produced his quickest time of 1m31.227s within the final two minutes of the half-hour test to demote fellow Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb from the top of the timesheets by 0.138sec.

Former TC2000 champion Lopez had set the initial pace thanks to a time of 1m32.158s. It took the Argentine's teammates until approaching the final third of the test to offer a response, when Loeb found in excess of a one-second improvement over his previous best time.

Zengo Motorsport's Norbert Michelisz spilt up the C-Elysee trio, completed by Yvan Muller, and took top non-Citroen honours in third with two minutes left on the clocks. The Honda driver ended the afternoon 0.908sec adrift of Lopez's benchmark.

Fresh from his first WTCC podium in Marrakech, fast improving Frenchman Hugo Valente also caused a late upset to mix it with the Citroens in fourth. Reigning WTCC champion Muller was fifth, ahead of last year's Superstars champion Gianni Morbidelli.

Former grand prix driver Morbidelli is hoping to kick-start his WTCC comeback at Paul Ricard, having been forced to start from last on the grid in Morocco owing to a practice accident involving Gabriele Tarquini.

Tiago Monteiro was leading works Honda racer in seventh. Teammate Tarquini's first 2014 Civic WTCC TC1 was destroyed last week when it was T-boned by Morbidelli. The Italian's replacement machine was only completed on Thursday, but allowed him to take 10th fastest.

"The car was built up using the shell of our test car," explained Tarquini. "It was a great effort and the work only finished yesterday, but of course now we don't have a spare car."

Originally on Autosport.com