Volvo’s Nicky Catsburg breaks the WTCC lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife

 

Volvo’s Nicky Catsburg broke the World Touring Car Championship lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in the second practice session for the 2017’s fourth round.

The Dutchman set his 8m34.813s after the chequered flag fell, the time more than half-a-second faster than Jose Maria Lopez’s 2016 WTCC qualifying record.

That lap demoted demoted Honda’s Norbert Michelisz, who had only just gone fastest with a 8m37.201s lap to bump the Munnich Citroen of Rob Huff from top spot.

Huff had been on top of the timesheets for most of the second half of the session, after Catsburg set the early pace.

Behind Catsburg, Michelisz and Huff – all of whom have now led a session ahead of qualifying on Friday – was Volvo’s Thed Bjork in fourth, with Esteban Guerrieri fifth in the Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze.

Championship leader Tiago Monteiro was a conservative sixth from Sebastien Loeb Racing’s Tom Chilton seventh, who set his time on old tyres.

Nestor Girolami was eighth fastest in the third Volvo ahead of Tom Coronel’s Chevrolet, with the SLR Citroen of Mehdi Bennani completing the top 10.

Unlike Thursday’s running, there were no signs of punctures during the 60-minute session, with traffic the only drama as a number of the WTCC drivers got caught behind TCR-specification ETCC cars on fast laps.

 

POS DRIVER TEAM CAR TIME GAP LAPS
1 Nicky Catsburg Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 8m34.813s 3
2 Norbert Michelisz Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 8m37.201s 2.388s 2
3 Rob Huff Munnich Motorsport Citroen 8m39.328s 4.515s 3
4 Thed Bjork Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 8m41.396s 6.583s 2
5 Esteban Guerrieri Campos Racing Chevrolet 8m42.232s 7.419s 3
6 Tiago Monteiro Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 8m42.586s 7.773s 2
7 Tom Chilton Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 8m42.855s 8.042s 3
8 Nestor Girolami Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo 8m44.705s 9.892s 3
9 Tom Coronel ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet 8m44.841s 10.028s 4
10 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 8m45.322s 10.509s 3
11 John Filippi Sebastien Loeb Racing Citroen 8m45.671s 10.858s 4
12 Kevin Gleason RC Motorsport Lada 8m48.987s 14.174s 4
13 Ryo Michigami Honda Racing Team JAS Honda 8m49.506s 14.693s 2
14 Daniel Nagy Zengo Motorsport Honda 8m54.326s 19.513s 3
15 Aurelien Panis Zengo Motorsport Honda 8m55.079s 20.266s 3
16 Yann Ehrlacher RC Motorsport Lada 9m14.620s 39.807s 2

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