A late run on fresh tyres handed Tom Coronel the early bragging rights as he topped the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) practice session at the Slovakia Ring.
The Dutchman survived an off after suffering a reported front-left tyre blowout under braking for Turn 3 and rejoined the fray, setting a 2:11.878s to eclipse the Audi RS3 of Frederic Vervisch by around two tenths of a second.
In doing so, Coronel also smashed the lap record for a TCR car around the 3.6 mile circuit by nearly four seconds, beating Rik Breukers previous effort of 2:15.512s in a SEAT Leon.
“I was quite surprised, it’s quite strange because at the beginning the circuit was very slippery, I didn’t really understand what was going on on track,” said Coronel.
“Somehow I had an exploded tyre on the left-front, so we changed tyres – it helped me a lot, but still the understeer is worrying me as well as the flat tyre – I don’t know why it happened, it just exploded on top of the bridge.
“Let’s wait and see, but it’s always positive to start the weekend at the front than the back but there’s still a lot of work to do, that’s for sure.”
A similarly late improvement from the Peugeot 308 TCR of Aurelien Comte means he rounds out the top three.
The first half of the session was, in effect, a BRC Hyundai lock-out with Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini trading fastest times – despite a brief interruption by wildcard Petr Fulin’s CUPRA.
The pair started to slide down the order as times improved later in the session, with Michelisz making it four manufacturers in the top four positions.
Local hero Mat’o Homola takes fifth in the second DSG Sport Competition machine ahead of Pepe Oriola.
Championship contenders and relatives Yann Ehrlacher (Honda Civic Type R) and Yvan Muller (Hyundai) were next, ahead of Tarquini.
Thed Bjork rounds out the top ten in the second YMR machine.
Audi Sport’s other two works drivers struggled, with Jean-Karl Vernay 14th and Gordon Shedden just 19th.
The same was true of Sebastien Loeb Racing’s re-built Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR pairing, with Rob Huff 23rd and Mehdi Bennani 25th.
The second practice session is scheduled to get underway at 14:50 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 9 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 2:11.878 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS | 11 | 2:12.030 | 0.152 |
| 3 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 2:12.212 | 0.334 |
| 4 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:12.277 | 0.399 |
| 5 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 2:12.425 | 0.547 |
| 6 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:12.547 | 0.669 |
| 7 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 12 | 2:12.696 | 0.818 |
| 8 | 48 | Yvan MULLER | |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:12.708 | 0.830 |
| 9 | 30 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:12.894 | 1.016 |
| 10 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
YMR | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:12.940 | 1.062 |
| 11 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Team Oscaro by Campos Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:12.940 | 1.062 |
| 12 | 44 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Fullin Race Academy | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:13.046 | 1.168 |
| 13 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 2:13.166 | 1.288 |
| 14 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:13.196 | 1.318 |
| 15 | 88 | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 11 | 2:13.364 | 1.486 |
| 16 | 66 | Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:13.602 | 1.724 |
| 17 | 31 | Kevin CECCON | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 11 | 2:13.625 | 1.747 |
| 18 | 23 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 9 | 2:13.639 | 1.761 |
| 19 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 11 | 2:13.894 | 2.016 |
| 20 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:13.948 | 2.070 |
| 21 | 8 | Norbert NAGY | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 2:14.049 | 2.171 |
| 22 | 63 | Benjamin LESSENNES | |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 2:14.247 | 2.369 |
| 23 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 2:14.345 | 2.467 |
| 24 | 20 | Denis DUPONT | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS | 10 | 2:14.350 | 2.472 |
| 25 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Sébastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 2:15.379 | 3.501 |
| 26 | 17 | Andrej STUDENIČ | |
Brutal Fish Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 2:15.392 | 3.514 |