Néstor Girolami heads Argentine Honda 1-2 in opening WTCR practice

Néstor Girolami headed up Münnich Motorsport team-mate Esteban Guerrieri in first practice for the FIA World Touring Car Cup at the Hungaroring, as the duo put in late laps to pip Hungarian hopeful Attila Tassi.

With KCMG’s Tassi in third, Honda locked out the top three positions in a relatively quiet 45-minute practice session, which had earlier been dominated by Hungarian drivers Tassi and the Hyundai of Norbert Michelisz.

Drivers were clearly not pushing the limits around the Hungaroring at the end of a hot day, however, as the top time remained more than 1.5 seconds adrift of the qualifying lap record set in 2018.

WRT’s Jean-Karl Vernay was the leading Audi driver in fourth, having moved up the timesheets in the final few minutes, although the Frenchman was still more than half a second from the absolute pace.

Comtoyou Racing CUPRA duo Aurélien Panis and Tom Coronel were fifth and sixth respectively, whilst BRC Racing’s Michelisz ended up in seventh as the leading Hyundai driver, having failed to improve his time after the first 15 minutes.

Andy Priaulx was the best of the Lynk & Co drivers in eighth, ahead of BRC’s Augusto Farfus in ninth and the second KCMG Honda of Tiago Monteiro in tenth.

In fact, after Priaulx, the next Cyan Racing driver was Yvan Muller in 18^th, ahead of Thed Björk in 20^th and Yann Ehrlacher in 24^th.

Comtoyou Audi duo Niels Langeveld and Frédéric Vervisch were 11^th and 12^th respectively, the latter being the last driver within a second of the pace by the narrowest of margins.

Kevin Ceccon was the best of the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta drivers in 13^th, having slipped down the ranking in the final minutes.

The Volkswagen Golf GTi drivers continued to struggle for pace, with Rob Huff being the best of the SLR drivers in 17^th, whilst team-mates Johan Kristoffersson, Mehdi Bennani and Benjamin Leuchter were just 21^st, 25^th and 26^th respectively.

WTCR wildcard Támas Tenke was slowest of all in 27^th, the Zengő Motorsport driver being more than five seconds adrift of the pace with 20 kg of extra weight in his car for being a wildcard entry.

Second practice takes place at 09:45 CEST (08:45 BST) on Saturday morning, followed by the first qualifying session of the weekend at 11:45 CEST (10:45 BST).

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	29	Néstor GIROLAMI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	16	1:53.919	0.000
2	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	17	1:54.043	0.124
3	9	Attila TASSI		KCMG	Honda Civic Type R TCR	15	1:54.286	0.367
4	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	14	1:54.507	0.588
5	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing	CUPRA TCR	13	1:54.510	0.591
6	50	Tom CORONEL		Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing	CUPRA TCR	16	1:54.528	0.609
7	5	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	15	1:54.576	0.657
8	111	Andy PRIAULX		Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	1:54.644	0.725
9	8	Augusto FARFUS		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	1:54.734	0.815
10	18	Tiago MONTEIRO		KCMG	Honda Civic Type R TCR	16	1:54.812	0.893
11	10	Niels LANGEVELD		Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	16	1:54.908	0.989
12	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	1:54.918	0.999
13	31	Kevin CECCON		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	18	1:55.023	1.104
14	96	Mikel AZCONA		PWR Racing	CUPRA TCR	17	1:55.122	1.203
15	37	Daniel HAGLÖF		PWR Racing	CUPRA TCR	14	1:55.180	1.261
16	1	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	13	1:55.181	1.262
17	12	Rob HUFF		SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	17	1:55.194	1.275
18	100	Yvan MULLER		Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	13	1:55.380	1.461
19	55	Ma QING HUA		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	15	1:55.568	1.649
20	11	Thed BJÖRK		Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	1:55.586	1.667
21	14	Johan KRISTOFFERSSON		SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	10	1:55.589	1.670
22	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	1:55.778	1.859
23	88	Nicky CATSBURG		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	15	1:55.811	1.892
24	68	Yann EHRLACHER		Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	1:55.974	2.055
25	25	Mehdi BENNANI		SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	15	1:56.195	2.276
26	33	Benjamin LEUCHTER		SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	9	1:56.646	2.727
27	23	Támas TENKE		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	18	1:59.180	5.261