Defending champion Yvan Muller posted the quickest time in pre-event testing for the penultimate round of the World Touring Car Championship season at Okayama.

On a circuit where it was believed that the SEAT Leon TDi would be at a disadvantage compared to its rivals, Muller was one of five SEAT drivers inside the top six following the test, with BMW driver Augusto Farfus being the only non-SEAT man near the head of the field.

Muller posted a quickest time of 1min 38.518secs to edge out Farfus by just 0.016secs, while former F1 man Tiago Monteiro was third quickest. Rickard Rydell was fourth ahead of current points leader Gabriele Tarquini in fifth, while the final works SEAT of Jordi Gene completed the top six.

Andy Priaulx had been quickest early on but had to settle for seventh in his BMW ahead of the first of the Chevrolet drivers as Alain Menu went eighth. Jorg Muller and Nicola Larini rounded out the top ten.

James Thompson was quickest of the LADA drivers in 13th place and was the quickest man to be within a second of the fastest lap, while Felix Porteiro in 14th was the quickest Independent runner.

Noburteru Taniguchi in his Proteam-entered BMW was the fastest of the numerous Asian drivers joining the field with the 18th quickest lap time.