Gene quickest as SEAT leads practice

Date published : 03 Jul 2010 - 09:35:57

Jordi Gene set the fastest time of Saturday's first World Touring Car free practice session at Portimao, as SEAT dominated.The Spaniard's best time of 1m56.232s proved quickest and was four tenths of a second faster than the best of the non-SEATs - Yvan Muller's Chevrolet in fifth.Fredy Barth was second quickest, ahead of home favourite Tiago Monteiro and the fellow Leon TDi of Michel Nykjaer.Gabriele Tarquini was sixth quickest behind Muller, but the reigning world champion's SEAT ground to a halt on the start/finish straight at the end of the session.Andy Priaulx was the fastest BMW in seventh, ahead of Norbert Michelisz and Colin Turkington, who was the top indepedent in ninth.Augusto Farfus was next up in the second RBM BMW, with the Chevrolets of Rob Huff and Alain Menu, and the SEAT of Tom Coronel all outside the top 10.Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1. Jordi Gene SEAT 1m56.23s 10 2. Fredy Barth SEAT 1m56.35s +0.127 14 3. Tiago Monteiro SEAT 1m56.57s +0.338 12 4. Michel Nykjaer SEAT 1m56.61s +0.380 10 5. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 1m56.67s +0.441 11 6. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 1m56.68s +0.451 12 7. Andy Priaulx BMW 1m56.83s +0.599 14 8. Norbert Michelisz SEAT 1m56.90s +0.674 13 9. Colin Turkington BMW 1m56.94s +0.716 1210. Augusto Farfus BMW 1m57.07s +0.840 1411. Rob Huff Chevrolet 1m57.19s +0.965 1112. Alain Menu Chevrolet 1m57.24s +1.011 1113. Tom Coronel SEAT 1m57.26s +1.033 1214. Darryl O'Young Chevrolet 1m57.48s +1.254 1415. Sergio Hernandez BMW 1m57.64s +1.410 1416. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet 1m57.74s +1.511 1417. Kristian Poulsen BMW 1m58.14s +1.909 1418. Stefano D'Aste BMW 1m58.15s +1.924 1519. Franz Engstler BMW 1m58.43s +2.200 1020. Mehdi Bennani BMW 1m58.52s +2.288 1521. Andrey Romanov BMW 2m00.72s +4.488 14