Nicky Catsburg kept BRC Racing and Hyundai on top of the times in second practice for the FIA World Touring Car Cup at the Slovakiaring, as the Comtoyou CUPRA duo of Tom Coronel and Aurélien Panis were second and third.
Catsburg moved to the top of the timesheets after around 12 minutes, initially with a lap of 2 minutes 10.504 seconds, before the Dutchman went quicker ten minutes later with a lap of 2 minutes 10.373 seconds.
That was a full three tenths faster than team-mate Norbert Michelisz had been earlier in the morning, as Catsburg put on fresh rubber on his i30 N TCR.
“In FP2 I was quick because I had the tyres – some other people used the tyres in FP1,” said Catsburg. “But the main difference is that we finally solved an ongoing problem we had with the car pretty much since Marrakech.
“We had some vibrations in the car which were not supposed to be there. It’s fixed as of last week and I’m happy that now finally I’ve been able to do a result.
“Obviously it’s not qualifying yet so I shouldn’t be too happy just yet but obviously being P1 now is a good boost for qualifying.
“It does seem that the weight break that we had seems to help a little bit, but let’s wait until after qualifying and after that I’ll be able to say more.”
CUPRA again performed strong in the session, with Coronel making it a Dutch 1-2 at the top of the times, whilst Panis was third, just three tenths off the pace.
Team Mulsanne’s Kevin Ceccon improved his ranking from FP! And was fourth fastest in the best of the Alfa Romeos, ahead of the leading Audi of Frédéric Vervisch in fifth.
Catsburg’s team-mate Augusto Farfus broke into the top ten for the first time this weekend and was sixth, ahead of the WRT Audi of Jean-Karl Vernay in seventh.
Ma Qing Hua – who had been second in FP1 – put his Alfa Romeo in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by first practice pace-setter Michelisz and the best Honda of Esteban Guerrieri, although the latter endured a spin on his final lap when he touched the white line on the exit of the final corner.
Once again the Volkswagen and Lynk & Co cars barely featured in the top 15, with Benjamin Leuchter the best of the Golf GTi drivers in 15th.
Yvan Muller was the best-placed Lynk & Co driver in 16th, with the Cyan Racing team apparently unflustered by their pace as they continue to work on optimising the set-up of their cars ahead of qualifying.
Wildcard entry Luca Engstler was the slowest Hyundai driver in 19th, although the young German has to carry 20 kg of extra weight this weekend for being a guest entry.
Niels Langeveld was slowest of all in 27th, over two seconds off the pace in his Audi, having earlier been the best RS3 driver in first practice.
Qualifying for race one gets underway at 13:45 CEST (12:45 BST) followed by qualifying for races two and three at 16:40 CEST (15:40 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 88 | Nicky CATSBURG |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:10.373 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 50 | Tom CORONEL | |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:10.660 | 0.287 |
| 3 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS |  |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:10.698 | 0.325 |
| 4 | 31 | Kevin CECCON |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 10 | 2:10.870 | 0.497 |
| 5 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 2:10.882 | 0.509 |
| 6 | 8 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:10.999 | 0.626 |
| 7 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 2:11.086 | 0.713 |
| 8 | 55 | Ma QING HUA |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 12 | 2:11.098 | 0.725 |
| 9 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:11.198 | 0.825 |
| 10 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 10 | 2:11.265 | 0.892 |
| 11 | 1 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:11.318 | 0.945 |
| 12 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:11.319 | 0.946 |
| 13 | 37 | Daniel HAGLÖF |  |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 2:11.542 | 1.169 |
| 14 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 9 | 2:11.615 | 1.242 |
| 15 | 33 | Benjamin LEUCHTER |  |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 2:11.813 | 1.440 |
| 16 | 100 | Yvan MULLER | |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 2:11.845 | 1.472 |
| 17 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 2:11.928 | 1.555 |
| 18 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK | |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 6 | 2:12.353 | 1.980 |
| 19 | 6 | Luca ENGSTLER | |
Hyundai Team Engstler | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:12.390 | 2.017 |
| 20 | 14 | Johan KRISTOFFERSSON | |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 2:12.407 | 2.034 |
| 21 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 10 | 2:12.409 | 2.036 |
| 22 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 2:12.424 | 2.051 |
| 23 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 9 | 2:12.492 | 2.119 |
| 24 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER | |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | 2:12.560 | 2.187 |
| 25 | 111 | Andy PRIAULX | |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | 2:12.710 | 2.337 |
| 26 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | 2:12.744 | 2.371 |
| 27 | 10 | Niels LANGEVELD | |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:12.769 | 2.396 |