Tarquini quickest in first Moscow test

The Italian clinched the fastest time with a 1m38.460, while teammate Tiago Monteiro gave a possible hint of a strong Honda weekend by setting the third fastest time overall, just over half a second behind Tarquini.

Reigning champion Jose Maria Lopez was close to eight tenths of a second off the pace in fourth position, with Citroen teammates Ma Qing Hua and Sebastien Loeb right behind him in fifth and sixth.

The fastest Lada driver was Rob Huff in seventh position, just under a second from the top time, with top independent runner Norbert Michelisz in eighth position for Zengo Motorsport.

Fastest of the Chevrolet drivers was Hugo Valente in 10th position, 1.232 seconds adrift of Tarquini.

The bad luck continued for Rickard Rydell, who makes his return to the championship this weekend after being forced to sit out all races since the season-opener in Marrakech.

The Swede had to watch the test session from the pits as the team trailer has been stuck in customs for four days.

The test was held in dry conditions, albeit with light rain falling at the end of the session.

Session results:

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	Gabriele Tarquini	Honda	1'38.460
2	Yvan Muller	Citroen	1'38.503	0.043
3	Tiago Monteiro	Honda	1'38.965	0.505
4	Jose Maria Lopez	Citroen	1'39.217	0.757
5	Ma Qing Hua	Citroen	1'39.265	0.805
6	Sebastien Loeb	Citroen	1'39.315	0.855
7	Rob Huff	Lada	1'39.409	0.949
8	Norbert Michelisz	Honda	1'39.494	1.034
9	Mehdi Bennani	Citroen	1'39.532	1.072
10	Hugo Valente	Chevrolet	1'39.692	1.232
11	Tom Chilton	Chevrolet	1'39.874	1.414
12	Jaap van Lagen	Lada	1'39.950	1.490
13	Nick Catsburg	Lada	1'40.113	1.653
14	John Filippi	Chevrolet	1'40.852	2.392
15	Tom Coronel	Chevrolet	1'40.932	2.472
16	Stefano D'Aste	Chevrolet	1'41.229	2.769
17	Gregoire Demoustier	Chevrolet	1'42.108	3.648
-	Rickard Rydell	Honda	no time	-