Hungary WTCC: Michelisz leads Honda 1-2 in wet final practice

The session began in very wet conditions after the rain fell for over an hour before the start. After not setting any representative times in the first practice, Michelisz bounced back from a technical issue to set successive fastest laps in his Honda, despite carrying 80kg of compensation weight on the car this weekend.

Michelisz’s closest charge came from a surprising quarter, with RC Motorsport proving the Lada still seems to be the car to have in the wet. Frenchman Yann Ehrlacher was on course to finish the session second fastest, until a late improvement from Monteiro moved him down to third.

FP1 pacesetter Rob Huff was the best-placed of the privateer Citroens in fourth, while Volvo demonstrated that its wet-weather weakness perhaps remains unresolved, with Nicky Catsburg the marque's best-placed driver in sixth, while Thed Bjork was a lowly 15th, 3.6s off the pace.

The two Chevrolets were also outside of the top 10, with Campos Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri in 11th and Tom Coronel 14th for ROAL Motorsport.

The session was red-flagged twice, with Aurelien Panis stopping his Zengo Honda at Turn 6 with an electrical issue after 15 minutes, while Nicky Catsburg brought out the red flags again with one minute left on the clock, also stopping at Turn 6, with the session not resumed.

Track limits were regularly abused, with Ehrlacher losing two of his best laps, and Sebastien Loeb Racing pair Mehdi Bennani and Tom Chilton also having their fastest times deleted after going off circuit at Turns 4 and 6.

Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes