Reigning champion Yvan Muller topped the timesheet in testing ahead of the Japanese round of the WTCC championship with a time of 1:38.518 ahead of Augusto Farfus by 0.016 seconds.
The close test session saw the top 13 cars covered by one second.
Team BMW UK’s Andy Priaulx started off things improving his times of the first three flying laps he postest. As the session closed the Englishman was placed seventh overall.
Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini lead the SEATs in a session that saw all five works cars take places in the top seven.
Alain Menu rounded off the top eight with a time of 1:38.883.
Newly crowned ETCC champion James Thompson was on pace from the start, posting a time 0.980 seconds slower than Muller.
Félix Porteiro was the leading Independent competitor who finished 14th overall.
