Stian Paulsen looked set to top the timesheets in the final TCR Europe practice session at Le Castellet ahead of the season opener, but a late effort of 2:17.921 by Mikel Azcona handed the Spaniard top spot again.
Heavy rainfall during the afternoon in the south of France sent lap times spiralling with the surface rubber laid down earlier deteriorated.
Indeed, after the initial flurry of lap times, the quickest was a 2:23.922 for Azcona, nearly ten seconds off his best in the morning.
Paulsen was the first to push the limits in the rebuilt CUPRA TCR, heading to the top of the timesheets at a third distance, lowering the benchmark by 2.5 seconds to a 2:21.471.
Several drivers attempted to retaliate, not least the Honda Civic Type R FK8 of 2017 TCR Europe Trophy winner Josh Files, or the Audi RS 3 LMS of 2017 TCR International Series champion Jean-Karl Vernay, but every time the Norwegian held his own and bettered his efforts.
That trend continued down into the 2:18s as the track began to speed up again, but Azcona’s final effort proved too much for Paulsen, and he settled for the runner-up spot in a CUPRA 1-2 in the classification.
Behind the pairing, a common theme began to emerge, with the top twelve comprised exclusively of the Hyundai i30 N TCR and the aforementioned FK8.
Dusan Borkovic’s Target Competition-run machine was third, a further four tenths back ahead of Files.
Francisco Mora rounded out the top five in his i30 with Daniel Nagy sixth.
2017 TCR International runner-up Attila Tassi came next, edging out Nicola Baldin, with Jens Reno Moller and Britain’s Reece Barr completing the top ten.
The opening qualifying session of the new campaign is scheduled to get underway at 09:55 CET tomorrow [5th May].
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 25 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:17.921 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 2:18.757 | 0.836 |
| 3 | 62 | Dußan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:19.183 | 1.262 |
| 4 | 99 | Josh FILES |  |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 11 | 2:19.470 | 1.549 |
| 5 | 26 | Francisco MORA |  |
M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 2:19.680 | 1.759 |
| 6 | 9 | D&aaucte;niel NAGY |  |
M1RA | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:20.043 | 2.122 |
| 7 | 90 | Attila TASSI | |
Hell Energy Racing with KCMG | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 12 | 2:20.058 | 2.137 |
| 8 | 16 | Nicola BALDAN |  |
Pit Lane Competizioni | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:20.198 | 2.277 |
| 9 | 11 | Jens Reno MØLLER |  |
Reno Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 9 | 2:20.486 | 2.565 |
| 10 | 8 | Reece BARR |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:20.803 | 2.882 |
| 11 | 13 | Cedric PIRO |  |
Autodis Racing by Piro Sports | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 12 | 2:21.099 | 3.178 |
| 12 | 94 | Kris RICHARD |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:21.433 | 3.512 |
| 13 | 88 | Maxime POTTY |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 2:21.693 | 3.772 |
| 14 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 2:21.839 | 3.918 |
| 15 | 23 | Francisco ABREU | |
Sports & You | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 2:22.033 | 4.112 |
| 16 | 20 | Márk JEDLÓCZKY | |
JLG Sport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 2:22.707 | 4.786 |
| 17 | 7 | Igor STEFANOVSKI |  |
Stefanovski Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:22.796 | 4.875 |
| 18 | 14 | Loris CENCETTI |  |
Autodis Racing by Piro Sports | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:22.858 | 4.937 |
| 19 | 63 | Giovanni ALTOÈ | |
Pit Lane Competizioni | Audi RS3 LMS TCR DSG | 10 | 2:22.888 | 4.967 |
| 20 | 71 | Enrico BETTERA | |
Pit Lane Competizioni | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:23.211 | 5.290 |
| 21 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY | |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR | 9 | 2:23.384 | 5.463 |
| 22 | 24 | Gustavo MOURA | |
Speedy Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:24.095 | 6.174 |
| 23 | 66 | Andrea LARINI | |
Pit Lane Competizioni | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:24.936 | 7.015 |
| 24 | 42 | Stefano COMINI | |
Race Republic | Subaru WRX STi TCR | 3 | 2:30.738 | 12.817 |
| 25 | 38 | Danny KROES |  |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 1 | 23:47.205 | 29.284 |