Hyundai drivers Junesung Park and Mikel Azcona were fastest of all in the two practice sessions at Inje Speedium, with Park also second fastest in Free Practice 2. The Solite Indigo Racing driver showed strong pace at his home circuit, while Geely Cyan Racing had a difficult day.
Following a 15-minute shakedown after the cars and equipment arrived by freight the previous day, Park led the first 30-minute practice session with a time of 1:40.944 in his Elantra N TCR, ahead of the BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse entry of Norbert Michelisz by four-tenths of a second.
Thed Björk was the best of the Geely Cyan Racing contingent in third in the first session, ahead of Azcona's Hyundai and Yann Ehrlacher's Geely Preface TCR.
In the second session, Mikel Azcona was fastest of all in his Hyundai, two-tenths up on Park’s Free Practice 1 time, while it was Ehrlacher who was the fastest of the Geely drivers, leading teammates Bjork and Urrutia.
The difficulties for Geely Cyan Racing began at the start of Free Practice 1, when Urrutia's car was rolled back into the garages and the team began an engine change, which is likely to earn the Uruguayan a grid penalty for tomorrow's first race.
Ma Qing Hua also stopped on track after only one flying lap. The Chinese driver's car was still being worked on in Free Practice 2, so he failed to set a time.
Park was also the best of the ETS Trophy drivers with his first and second places, while Diego Moran was the best of the TCR Asia class drivers, finishing both sessions in 11th place overall, despite the Ecuadorian arriving only minutes before practice and missing shakedown because of travel issues.
The next session is qualifying, which gets under way at 10:10 local time (03:10 CEST) tomorrow.
Picture: WSC/Paddocker
