WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli emerged as the fastest driver at the end of a complete day of testing for the TCR International Series in Valencia, with the Italian posting a time of 1:42.828 to end up two tenths faster than Target Competition’s Stefano Comini.
Morbidelli posted his time in the morning session and remained unbeaten for the remainder of the day, which was largely used by the teams and drivers to iron out problems with their cars following the first two flyaway meetings of the season in Malaysia and China.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Spaniard Jordi Gené topped the afternoon session with a time of 1:42.828, putting him third fastest in the overall times, ahead of an impressive performance by two series newcomers. Dutch driver Bas Schouten was third fastest in his SEAT, ahead of Lucile Cypriano in fifth overall.
There were also niggling problems for Campos Racing’s Oscar Nogués, who experienced fuel feed issues. Nevertheless the experienced racer was able to post a number of lap times in the afternoon session.
Mikhail Grachev ended the day as the top Audi driver with the tenth best time overall.
Balance of Performance revised after testing
Taking into account the results of the previous meeting in Shanghai, in which the Honda Civic cars dominated, the organisers of the TCR International Series have made further tweaks to the BoP.
A 35 kg weight reduction has been handed to the Opel Astra OPC cars (which now weigh 1225 kg), whilst the Opel, SEAT and Audi cars have all been given dispensation to run with a lower ride height of 70 mm, compared to the 80 mm permitted for the Honda cars.
Morning session times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 41 | 1:42.828 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 31 | 1:43.051 | 0.223 |
| 3 | 34 | Bas SCHOUTEN |  |
ST Motorsport / Bas Koeten Racing | SEAT León Racer | 67 | 1:43.164 | 0.336 |
| 4 | 11 | Lucile CYPRIANO |  |
JSB Compétition | SEAT León Racer | 33 | 1:43.199 | 0.371 |
| 5 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 21 | 1:43.289 | 0.461 |
| 6 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 48 | 1:43.444 | 0.616 |
| 7 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Audi Sport TT Cup | 22 | 1:43.474 | 0.646 |
| 8 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 33 | 1:43.546 | 0.718 |
| 9 | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 43 | 1:43.586 | 0.758 |
| 10 | 32 | David CEBRIÁN Ariza |  |
JSB Compétition | SEAT León Racer | 28 | 1:43.743 | 0.915 |
| 11 | 6 | Franz ENGSTLER |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Audi Sport TT Cup | 26 | 1:43.966 | 1.138 |
| 12 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1:43.985 | 1.157 |
| 13 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 18 | 1:44.057 | 1.229 |
| 14 | 20 | Igor SKUZ |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 38 | 1:44.253 | 1.425 |
| 15 | 21 | Jordi ORIOLA | |
Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | 9 | 1:46.669 | 3.841 |
Afternoon session times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 1:43.146 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 30 | 1:43.262 | 0.116 |
| 3 | 32 | David CEBRIÁN Ariza | |
JSB Compétition | SEAT León Racer | 17 | 1:43.330 | 0.184 |
| 4 | 6 | Franz ENGSTLER | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Audi Sport TT Cup | 39 | 1:43.498 | 0.352 |
| 5 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Audi Sport TT Cup | 47 | 1:43.661 | 0.515 |
| 6 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 1:44.026 | 0.880 |
| 7 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 35 | 1:44.472 | 1.326 |
| 8 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 13 | 1:44.734 | 1.588 |
| 9 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 11 | 1:44.784 | 1.638 |
| 10 | 20 | Igor SKUZ | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 17 | 1:44.822 | 1.676 |
| 11 | 25 | Stefano COMINI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 18 | 1:44.903 | 1.757 |
| 12 | 19 | Oscar NOGUÉS | |
Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | 14 | 1:45.673 | 2.527 |
| 13 | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 18 | 1:51.119 | 7.973 |
| 14 | 34 | Bas SCHOUTEN | |
ST Motorsport / Bas Koeten Racing | SEAT León Racer | 4 | No time | N/A |
| 15 | 21 | Jordi ORIOLA | |
Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | 0 | No time | N/A |