Motegi WTCC: Néstor Girolami fastest in first practice

Nestor Girolami set the pace on his return to the WTCC in Japan, the Argentinian was fastest of all on his first flying lap in the Volvo, finishing the 30-minute session nearly a second-and-a-half clear of his nearest rival, Lada’s Nicky Catsburg.

Girolami, returning to the championship after a year away, showed blistering pace in the Volvo S60, which is the lightest car on track this weekend after the latest compensation weight calculations by the FIA.

The Argentinian followed in the footsteps of his countryman Esteban Guerrieri, who was also fastest in practice last month in Argentina.

Girolami was fastest ahead of Catsburg, with Volvo team-mate Thed Bjork third fastest, confirming good pace from the Swedish marque in Japan.

Behind them was the fastest of the Citroen drivers, Yvan Muller, with the Frenchman just over a tenth of a second ahead of teammate Jose Maria Lopez.

Gabriele Tarquini was sixth for Lada ahead of teammate and overnight father Hugo Valente, with the three Lada Vestas showing strong pace as well.

Things weren’t so great in the session for Honda, with Rob Huff their top representative in eighth position at their home circuit, with the Honda carrying the maximum compensation weight this weekend.

Honda teammate Tiago Monteiro was ninth fastest, with the privateer Chevrolet of John Filippi completing the top ten with a last-minute improvement.

Norbert Michelisz and WTCC newcomer Ryo Michigami finished just outside of the top ten in 11th and 12th, with the remaining privateer entries filling out the final positions, led by independents' points leader Mehdi Bennani in the Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen C-Elysee.

FP1 results:

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap
1	Nestor Girolami	Volvo	9	1'56.437
2	Nicky Catsburg	LADA	11	1'57.857	1.420
3	Thed Björk	Volvo	11	1'57.912	1.475
4	Yvan Muller	Citroën	9	1'58.134	1.697
5	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroën	10	1'58.302	1.865
6	Gabriele Tarquini	LADA	9	1'58.333	1.896
7	Hugo Valente	LADA	10	1'58.455	2.018
8	Rob Huff	Honda	11	1'58.775	2.338
9	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	12	1'58.914	2.477
10	John Filippi	Chevrolet	10	1'58.971	2.534
11	Norbert Michelisz	Honda	11	1'58.997	2.560
12	Ryo Michigami	Honda	10	1'58.998	2.561
13	Mehdi Bennani	Citroën	13	1'59.069	2.632
14	Tom Chilton	Citroën	11	1'59.392	2.955
15	Tom Coronel	Chevrolet	10	1'59.625	3.188
16	James Thompson	Chevrolet	12	1'59.654	3.217
17	Grégoire Demoustier	Citroën	11	1'59.928	3.491
18	Ferenc Ficza	Honda	11	2'00.420	3.983
19	Daniel Nagy	Honda	10	2'01.724	5.287