WTCC Mexico

The first practice session at Puebla was extremely eventful with two separate incidents resulting in red flags. The first cause was half way into the session when Giuseppe Cirò spun and Jörg Müller went off the in avoidance; the German’s BMW hit a concrete barrier with force and obtained extensive damage to the front right of the car.
After the BMW had been removed, the session resumed and at this point it was Colciago who had the fastest lap of 1:31.973. Immediately, James Thompson of Alfa Romeo posted a time of 1:31.302 and within a matter of seconds his team-mate Farfus jumped to second - just 0.043 of a second slower. The two remained at the top while SEAT drivers, Jordi Gené and Peter Terting claimed third and fifth positions respectively. They were divided by Gabriele Tarquini.
With five minutes remaining, De Micheli also came off and similarly to Jörg’s BMW, the Honda crashed into a concrete barrier. Once again the red flags were issued and the session did not resume.
The top ten lap times were within one second of each other and contain at least one car of the five manufacturers represented at the Mexican races. Andy Priaulx was the fastest of the BMW drivers and occupied 9th spot – 0.819 of a second off the best time while Robert Huff was tenth for Chevrolet. 
Tom Coronel had the 11th fastest time overall and the best of the Independents.

It was again an Alfa Romeo that completed the fastest lap in the second practice session but this time it was driven by Fabrizio Giovanardi. At the opening stages, the Italian driver clocked a time of 1:31.081 and this was good enough to keep him at the top for the entire 30 minutes. Thompson occupied second position until, Colciago joined the session after 10 minutes and demoted him to third. Colciago’s time was just 0.092 slower than that of Giovanardi.
Peter Terting was the fastest of SEAT Sport drivers and fourth overall, while Augusto Farfus’ time of 1:31.749 made him the final member in the top five.
In the Independents’ category, Tom Coronel was the quickest until, with seven minutes remaining, his Mexican team-mate Carlos Mastretta improved dramatically and posted a lap of 1:32.342. This launched him to 11th position overall and the top independent.
Dirk Müller was the 12th quickest for BMW and Alain Menu of Chevrolet posted the 13th best time, with team-mate Huff just behind. Jörg Müller’s BMW and De Micheli’s Honda did not take part in the session, as they were extensively damaged in the crashes during the previous session.