YMR’s Thed Björk set the fastest time in first practice for the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) on the streets of Vila Real, heading up a Hyundai 1-2-3 with BRC Racing’s Gabriele Tarquini in second and YMR team-mate Yvan Muller in third.
Björk first moved to the top of the times just after 20 minutes into the session, knocking the then-fastest John Filippi from the top with a lap time of 2 minutes 02.554 seconds. The reigning WTCC champion then went even faster on his next lap, setting the quickest time to go a huge seventh tenths clear of the rest of the field.
“It feels great; I love the streets of Vila Real and I love this circuit,” said Björk. “I don’t know what the others were doing but I was just driving – it feels good.
“The track is nice, there were just seven people doing the track walk [on Friday]. I don’t know what the others were doing. For me this feels really good. I did not expect this, and it’s a new track for many of the drivers and they will easily catch up for sure.”
Tarquini went second quickest in the final two minutes of the session, having been outside the top ten before, whilst Muller ended up in third, a further seven hundredths of a second back.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani – who had been the first to top the times – ended up in fourth in his Volkswagen Golf, ahead of team-mate Rob Huff in fifth.
Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher was the leading Honda driver in sixth, over a second off the pace, ahead of the second BRC Racing Hyundai of Norbert Michelisz in seventh.
Filippi slipped back to eighth by the end of the session but was still the fastest CUPRA driver, ahead of fellow CUPRA racer Norbert Nagy in ninth, who put in an impressive time for Zengő Motorsport. Nagy’s team-mate Zsolt Szabó fared less well, stopping on track after 15 minutes with an apparent mechanical issue, bringing about a seven-minute stoppage to the session.
DG Sport’s Mat’o Homola was the best of the Peugeot drivers, completing the top ten 1.6 seconds off the pace.
Gianni Morbidelli was the leading Alfa Romeo driver in 12th, but the Italian clipped the wall on his final lap late in the session, giving the Team Mulsanne mechanics some minor repairs to do ahead of FP2.
Audi drivers struggled for pace in the half-hour session, with Leopard Lukoil’s Jean-Karl Vernay the best for the marque in 15th, whilst team-mate Gordon Shedden couldn’t break into the top 20 and ended up in 21st on his first visit to the circuit.
Local racer Edgar Florindo was the best of the wildcard entries, ending the session 17th in his Veloso Motorsport entered CUPRA.
Three of Comtoyou Racing’s drivers – Aurélien Panis, Frédéric Vervisch and Nathanaël Berthon had to start the session five minutes late for carrying out an illegal track walk on Friday outside of the allocated time slot. They ended up in 20th, 24th and 26th respectively.
Second practice takes place at 11:00 BST (12:00 CEST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:02.092 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 2:02.806 | 0.714 |
| 3 | 48 | Yvan MULLER |  |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 2:02.874 | 0.782 |
| 4 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 2:02.908 | 0.816 |
| 5 | 12 | Rob HUFF |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 2:02.986 | 0.894 |
| 6 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 2:03.426 | 1.334 |
| 7 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 2:03.534 | 1.442 |
| 8 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:03.573 | 1.481 |
| 9 | 8 | Norbert NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 2:03.686 | 1.594 |
| 10 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 2:03.725 | 1.633 |
| 11 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 2:03.884 | 1.792 |
| 12 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 12 | 2:03.993 | 1.901 |
| 13 | 15 | James THOMPSON | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 2:03.997 | 1.905 |
| 14 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 12 | 2:04.166 | 2.074 |
| 15 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 11 | 2:04.211 | 2.119 |
| 16 | 9 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 2:04.221 | 2.129 |
| 17 | 13 | Edgar FLORINDO |  |
Veloso Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 2:04.674 | 2.582 |
| 18 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 2:04.721 | 2.629 |
| 19 | 88 | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 13 | 2:05.094 | 3.002 |
| 20 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 12 | 2:05.129 | 3.037 |
| 21 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 14 | 2:05.342 | 3.250 |
| 22 | 20 | Denis DUPONT |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 14 | 2:05.657 | 3.565 |
| 23 | 26 | José RODRIGUES | |
Target Competition | Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR | 14 | 2:05.971 | 3.879 |
| 24 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH | |
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS | 11 | 2:06.836 | 4.744 |
| 25 | 66 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 6 | 2:14.054 | 11.962 |
| 26 | 23 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 6 | 2:20.502 | 18.410 |
| 27 | 63 | Benjamin LESSENNES | |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 4 | No time | N/A |