Hungaroring WTCC: Gabriele Tarquini leads Honda practice one-two
Gabriele Tarquini edged out team-mate Tiago Monteiro to set the pace for Honda in the opening World Touring Car Championship practice session at the Hungaroring
The Japanese marque, which triumphed last weekend in Slovakia courtesy of Tarquini, was never off the top spot as Tarquini, Monteiro and the Zengo-run Civic of Norbert Michelisz dominated the opening session.
It was home favourite Michelisz who went fastest early on, but as the pace - led by Monteiro and Tarquini - improved, he dropped down the order.
A late rally lifted him to fourth, just behind championship leader Yvan Muller's RML Chevrolet.
Muller had threatened to disrupt Honda's hegemony at the halfway mark, but his best time was just over two tenths shy of Tarquini.
Fifth went to Hugo Valente, whose 2013 WTCC campaign begins this weekend with the Campos SEAT squad.
The Frenchman was less than one tenth of a second faster than SEAT stablemate Pepe Oriola, while his team-mate Fernando Monje ended the session 12th overall.
Slovakia reverse-grid winner Tom Coronel won the battle for seventh, narrowly edging out Rob Huff's Munnich SEAT and the Chevrolets of James Nash and Tom Chilton.
Several drivers, Tarquini among them, had lairy moments during the 30 minute session, while Engslter BMW driver Charles Ng was black flagged late on for repeated track limit transgressions.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m54.889s 2. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m55.014s + 0.125s 3. Yvan Muller RML Chevrolet 1m55.093s + 0.204s 4. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m55.105s + 0.216s 5. Hugo Valente Campos SEAT 1m55.177s + 0.288s 6. Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT 1m55.264s + 0.375s 7. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m55.354s + 0.465s 8. Rob Huff Munnich SEAT 1m55.416s + 0.527s 9. James Nash Bamboo Chevrolet 1m55.521s + 0.632s 10. Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet 1m55.588s + 0.699s 11. Medhi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m55.595s + 0.706s 12. Fernando Monje Campos SEAT 1m55.630s + 0.741s 13. Michel Nykjaer Nika Chevrolet 1m55.689s + 0.800s 14. Alex MacDowall Bamboo Chevrolet 1m55.714s + 0.825s 15. Darryl O'Young ROAL BMW 1m55.928s + 1.039s 16. Stefano D'Aste PB BMW 1m56.073s + 1.184s 17. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 1m56.176s + 1.287s 18. Franz Engstler Engstler BMW 1m56.478s + 1.589s 19. Marc Basseng Munnich SEAT 1m56.630s + 1.741s 20. Fredy Barth Wiechers BMW 1m56.744s + 1.855s 21. Charles Ng Engstler BMW 1m56.898s + 2.009s 22. James Thompson Lada 1m57.239s + 2.350s 23. Rene Munnich Munnich SEAT 1m57.694s + 2.805s 24. Mikhail Kozlovskiy Lada 1m58.204s + 3.315s
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