Yann Ehrlacher fastest in interrupted second practice ahead of Suzuka qualifying

Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher set the fastest lap of the weekend so far to top second practice after a flurry of late laps on fresh rubber reshuffled the order.

Despite a high-speed trip through the gravel at turn one earlier in the session, Ehrlacher set a rapid lap on new tyres late in the session to edge out Aurélien Comte, who continued his opening practice form in placing second.

Esteban Guerrieri was just two tenths shy of his teammate’s benchmark in third, ahead of 2017 TCR International Series champion Jean-Karl Vernay in fourth, whose Audi was fastest through the speed traps.

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Yvan Muller briefly topped the timesheets before his nephew bettered him almost immediately, and Muller was eventually demoted to fifth with all the late improvers, but was the first of the Hyundai entrants.

Nathanaël Berthon made it five Frenchmen in the top six, while Pepe Oriola once again headed the CUPRA runners.

In eighth position was Thed Björk with Medhi Bannani just behind again the fastest Volkswagen entrant, with standings leader Gabriele Tarquini completing the top ten.

The returning Tiago Monteiro impressed in 15th, improving his time by 1.2 seconds from opening practice, and finding pace on fresh rubber late on.

Kevin Ceccon caused a brief red flag period heading into the final third of the session after he collected the right-hand tyre stack at the final chicane, which required re-placing.

Rob Huff did initially improve to seventh with his final lap, but had his time removed, continuing a string of poor results for the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver.

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	68	Yann EHRLACHER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	11	2:12.481	0.000
2	7	Aurélien COMTE		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	12	2:12.625	0.144
3	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	10	2:12.686	0.205
4	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	12	2:12.839	0.358
5	48	Yvan MULLER		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	11	2:12.840	0.359
6	23	Nathanaël BERTHON		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	11	2:12.855	0.374
7	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	10	2:12.989	0.508
8	11	Thed BJÖRK		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	11	2:13.208	0.727
9	25	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	12	2:13.276	0.795
10	30	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	11	2:13.296	0.815
11	5	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	11	2:13.359	0.878
12	20	Denis DUPONT		Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS	11	2:13.413	0.932
13	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	10	2:13.905	1.424
14	9	Tom CORONEL		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	10	2:13.935	1.454
15	18	Tiago MONTEIRO		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	11	2:13.946	1.465
16	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS	10	2:14.252	1.771
17	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	12	2:14.443	1.962
18	27	John FILIPPI		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	11	2:14.480	1.999
19	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	9	2:14.572	2.091
20	42	Timo SCHEIDER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	12	2:14.735	2.254
21	16	Luigi FERRARA		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	12	2:15.011	2.530
22	31	Kevin CECCON		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	6	2:15.690	3.209
23	12	Rob HUFF		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	12	2:16.424	3.943
24	66	Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	12	2:17.858	5.377
25	8	Norbert NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	11	2:17.894	5.413