Volvo’s Thed Björk fastest in final practice session in France

Polestar Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk put his Volvo S60 fastest in the final practice session of the World Touring Car Championship at Paul Ricard, finishing ahead of the Honda of Tiago Monteiro and the Lada of Nicky Catsburg, with the best-placed Citroën that of Yvan Muller in fifth.

The Swede jumped to the fore half-way through the 30-minute session, the first time the track has been dry for the WTCC this weekend, with any damp patches cleared up by the preceding Formula 3 race.

Very few drivers attempted qualifying runs as is usually typical in the final half of the session, with Honda instead opting to rehearse the new MAC3 time trial system with their drivers, which follows after qualifying this afternoon.

With no improvements late in the session, Björk’s time of 1:30.069 stood to the end of the session, with Honda’s Tiago Monteiro his closest rival, after the Portuguese driver had finished fastest in the earlier session which was held in wet conditions.

The fastest of the Citroëns, all carrying 80kg of compensation weight this weekend was Yvan Muller, while the best placed of the Chevrolet drivers was Tom Coronel in ninth, who was also the fastest independent driver.

Qualifying followed by MAC3 takes place at 14:00 CET.