Mikel Azcona led the way for the BRC Hyundai team in the first practice of the weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, finishing just ahead of ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt in the 30-minute session.
The Spanish driver laid down a time of 1:41.358 with just under ten minutes to go to topple Volt’s Honda, who himself had displaced the CUPRA of Aurélien Comte halfway through the session for the best time, and he ended up third fastest.
There were four manufacturers in the top four positions with Santiago Urrutia the best-placed of the four new Geely Preface TCR cars, just two-tenths away from Azcona’s pace.
TCR Europe title chargers from last year Teddy Clairet and Jenson Brickley were fifth and sixth in the order, separated by less than a tenth of a second. Volt was also the best-placed of the ETS Guest Star Trophy drivers with his second fastest overall time.
The session was briefly held behind a Full Course Caution when the Monlau Motorsport CUPRA of Viktor Andersson stopped at Turn 3 with a transmission issue. Andersson was one of two drivers not to set a timed lap, with the BRC Hyundai of Gabriele Covini also not recording a time due to multiple track limits violations.
The second practice session of the day gets underway at 17:15 CEST.
Picture: WSC/Fastclick
