Tiago Monteiro put Honda at the top of the timesheets in World Touring Car Championship testing at Sonoma last Friday. The 37-year-old set a benchmark 1m 46.300s in the closing minutes to finally lockout a top spot that had traded hands several times over the 30-minute session. Monteiro’s Honda stablemates Gabriele Tarquini and Norbert Michelisz also enjoyed spells at the top, but were bumped down to fifth and eighth respectively at the flag. SEAT’s defending champion Rob Huff was second overall, missing out on top spot by just over one tenth of a second.
“It’s always good to start a weekend like this, obviously, but it’s just a test,” Monteiro said.
“The track is very slippery; there’s not a lot of grip and so that causes us problems. We managed it OK, but we need to keep working hard.”
Chevrolet locked out third and fourth through Pepe Oriola and Tom Chilton, both of whom were more than 0.3s down on Monteiro. Champion-elect Yvan Muller – who can mathematically seal a fourth WTCC crown this weekend – was seventh, fractions behind the lead BMW of Tom Coronel. Lada’s James Thompson meanwhile missed much of the session after his front-left suspension failed just as he began a lap.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1. Tiago Monteiro Honda 1m46.300s 13
2. Rob Huff Munnich SEAT 1m46.432s +0.132s 11
3. Pepe Oriola Tuenti SEAT 1m46.691s +0.391s 10
4. Tom Chilton RML Chevrolet 1m46.829s +0.529s 13
5. Gabriele Tarquini Honda 1m46.840s +0.540s 12
6. Tom Coronel ROAL BMW 1m46.900s +0.600s 14
7. Yvan Muller RML Chevrolet 1m46.936s +0.636s 12
8. Norbert Michelisz Zengo Honda 1m47.169s +0.869s 12
9. Mehdi Bennani Proteam BMW 1m47.269s +0.969s 14
10. Darryl O’Young ROAL BMW 1m47.508s +1.208s 14
