Marrakech WTCC: Muller on top in both practice sessions
Yvan Muller continued his dominant start to his 2013 World Touring Car campaign by topping both practice sessions on the streets of Marrakech
Following his perfect weekend at Monza - where he scored pole position and two race wins - Muller has so far headed every session of the new season save for the cursory Monza warm-up.
He was not without competition however, with RML Chevrolet team-mate Tom Chilton and the two works Hondas running him close in both sessions.
In the first Muller's advantage was just 0.032s over Gabriele Tarquini in the works Civic, with Chilton a further four hundredths of a second down the road.
Muller found massive improvements in the second session - his best of 1m44.991s was over a second faster than his morning equivalent - but again the chasing pack was close.
Chilton led the way, getting to within 0.059s of his stablemate, having been ahead in the split times until the final sector.
Alex MacDowall in the independent Bamboo Cruze was third, one tenth down the road, while Tarquini and his Honda team-mate Tiago Monteiro were also in the mix, both men finishing within four tenths of Muller.
James Thompson showed well for Lada, going fifth and ninth in the respective two sessions.
The Briton had been unable to race at Monza following a qualifying crash with then-team-mate Aleksei Dudukalo, a clash which cost the Russian his drive.
Dudukalo's replacement Mikhail Kozlovskiy was 22nd and 19th in his first two WTCC runs.
Tom Coronel made the top 10 twice in his ROAL BMW 320, while SEAT also had a presence at the front - in the first session courtesy of Campos's Fernando Monje, and in the second via Pepe Oriola.
Defending champion Rob Huff was 15th and 16th respectively in his Munnich-run Leon.
Practice one Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps 1. Yvan Muller RML Chevrolet 1m46.093s 11 2. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m46.125s + 0.032s 12 3. Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet 1m46.168s + 0.075s 10 4. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m46.601s + 0.508s 13 5. James Thompson Lada 1m46.702s + 0.609s 13 6. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m46.835s + 0.742s 14 7. Michel Nykjaer NIKA Chevrolet 1m46.975s + 0.882s 13 8. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet 1m46.995s + 0.902s 13 9. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m47.039s + 0.946s 13 10. Fernando Monje Campos SEAT 1m47.347s + 1.254s 13 11. Stefano D'Aste PB BMW 1m47.442s + 1.349s 14 12. James Nash Bamboo Chevrolet 1m47.442s + 1.349s 13 13. Marc Basseng Munnich SEAT 1m47.507s + 1.414s 14 14. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m47.954s + 1.861s 12 15. Robert Huff Munnich SEAT 1m47.993s + 1.900s 10 16. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m48.058s + 1.965s 10 17. Darryl O'Young ROAL BMW 1m48.246s + 2.153s 13 18. Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT 1m48.500s + 2.407s 11 19. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m48.797s + 2.704s 15 20. Charles Ng Engstler BMW 1m49.176s + 3.083s 14 21. Fredy Barth Wiechers BMW 1m49.694s + 3.601s 15 22. Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 1m50.341s + 4.248s 15 23. Rene Munnich Munnich SEAT 1m52.175s + 6.082s 14 Practice two Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps 1. Yvan Muller RML Chevrolet 1m44.991 9
2. Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet 1m45.050s + 0.059s 11
3. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet 1m45.150s + 0.159s 12
4. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m45.280s + 0.289s 12
5. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m45.304s + 0.313s 11
6. Michel Nykjaer NIKA Chevrolet 1m45.429s + 0.438s 13
7. James Nash Bamboo Chevrolet 1m45.925s + 0.934s 12
8. Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT 1m46.023s + 1.032s 8
9. James Thompson Lada 1m46.186s + 1.195s 12
10. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m46.271s + 1.280s 14
11. Fernando Monje Campos SEAT 1m46.756s + 1.765s 13
12. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m46.961s + 1.970s 14
13. Darryl O'Young ROAL BMW 1m46.976s + 1.985s 14
14. Marc Basseng Munnich SEAT 1m47.018s + 2.027s 14
15. Fredy Barth Wiechers BMW 1m47.183s + 2.192s 13
16. Robert Huff Munnich SEAT 1m47.470s + 2.479s 9
17. Stefano D'Aste PB BMW 1m47.602s + 2.611s 12
18. Charles Ng Engstler BMW 1m47.786s + 2.795s 14
19. Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 1m48.540s + 3.549s 11
20. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m48.793s + 3.802s 14
21. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m49.405s + 4.414s 7
22. Rene Munnich Munnich SEAT 1m50.988s + 5.997s 14
23. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m59.189s + 14.198s 5
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