Bjork puts Volvo on top at Paul Ricard

Thed Bjork topped the second World Touring Car Championship practice session at Paul Ricard, as he and Polestar showed their hand for the first time.

Spearheading Volvo's return to the WTCC as a manufacturer, Polestar's drivers started the weekend in unremarkable fashion with Bjork and team-mate Fredrik Ekblom registering a sole appearance in the top 10 in either testing or first practice, which were held in less than favourable conditions.

The pair went largely without notice once again in the first half of the second session, before Bjork sprung to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 1m30.069s, comfortably the quickest time of the weekend.

The Swede was not challenged from there and finished on top, with team-mate Ekblom the only significant mover thereafter, as he jumped up to seventh.

He and his Honda team-mates Norbert Michelisz and Rob Huff spent the final minutes of the session practicing their slipstream formation, ahead of the first running of the new MAC3 format for manufacturers that will take place after Saturday's qualifying.

Lada pair Nick Catsburg and Gabriele Tarquini were third and fourth, the former just 0.003s slower than Monteiro, while Citroen's factory duo of Yvan Muller and Jose Maria Lopez were next up in their pair of C-Elysees.

Michelisz finished the session in eighth, a place behind Ekblom, while Tom Coronel was the leading Chevrolet driver as he dragged his Cruze to ninth place.

Tom Chilton put his satellite Citroen C-Elysee in 10th, just ahead of team-mate Mehdi Bennani and the third Civic of Huff.

PRACTICE TWO RESULTS:

Originally on Autosport.com