Mikel Azcona set the fastest time of the day in the first free practice session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, while Ignacio Montenegro led a Honda 1-2-3 in a red-flagged second practice.
It was Néstor Girolami who set the early pace in the first session, before BRC Hyundai teammate Azcona took over at the top of the time sheets, with the Spaniard going underneath the qualifying lap record of the circuit set by Ruben Volt in last year’s TCR Europe finale.
Behind the two Hyundai drivers was Ma Qing Hua’s Lynk & Co, with Marco Butti the best-placed of all the Honda drivers on his TCR World Tour return in fourth. The best-placed of the CUPRA cars was Eric Gené, making his series debut this weekend with Monlau Motorsport, tenth fastest on the time sheet.
In the second practice session the GOAT Racing Honda cars set the pace, as the fastest time swapped between Ignacio Montenegro, Felipe Fernández and Butti, with Montenegro ending up fastest with a time of 1:40.608.
Montenegro’s time wasn’t to be beaten, after championship leader Esteban Guerrieri span into the gravel at T1 and meant a yellow flag was deployed, followed by a red flag with one minute to go. Behind the three Hondas was Yann Ehrlacher’s Lynk & Co, with Azcona fifth quickest.
The next session is qualifying, which gets underway at 11:15 CEST tomorrow morning.
Picture: WSC/Fastclick
