Team WRT’s Santiago Urruita set the pace in the opening TCR Europe practice session at the Hockenheimring with a late effort to edge out Aurelien Comte.
The Uruguayan put in a best time of 1:48.330 around the 2.8-mile German circuit in the dying embers of the session, beating Comte’s DG Sport Peugeot 308 TCR to top spot by a mere 0.336s.
It was Target Competition’s Josh Files that led the way for the majority of the session, his initial benchmark of 1:48.6s in the Hyundai i30 N TCR standing until the final flying laps.
Compatriot Dan Lloyd also put in a positive showing on his return to TCR competition – and debut in the European category – with fourth in the Brutal Fish Honda Civic Type R FK8.
Teddy Clairet’s Peugeot was fifth, a mere 0.035s ahead of Maxime Potty’s Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR in sixth.
Luca Englster, Gilles Magnus and Hungaroring race two winner Julien Briche occupied the next three positions, the trio split by just over a tenth of a second.
Gianni Morbidelli’s WestCoast Racing VW Golf rounded out the top ten.
Stian Paulsen was a credible twelfth behind Andreas Backman on his return to the category after skipping the Budapest season-opener, 1.1s off the pace in his CUPRA TCR.
Another debutant – the Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda of experienced WTCR campaigner Tom Coronel – was 17th, with Mat’o Homola, winner of the season-opener, a surprising 18th behind.
Expect the Hyundais of Dusan Borkovic (15th) and Daniel Nagy (19th) to also climb up the order as the weekend progresses, with both likely to continue their front-running pace once the running gets more competitive on Saturday.
Prior to that, the second practice session from Hockenheim is scheduled to get underway at 15:40 (BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:48.330 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE |  |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 1:48.666 | 0.336 |
| 3 | 9 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:48.689 | 0.359 |
| 4 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:48.747 | 0.417 |
| 5 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 1:48.937 | 0.607 |
| 6 | 88 | Maxime POTTY |  |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 1:48.972 | 0.642 |
| 7 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:48.977 | 0.647 |
| 8 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:49.024 | 0.694 |
| 9 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:49.113 | 0.783 |
| 10 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 1:49.380 | 1.050 |
| 11 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 1:49.441 | 1.111 |
| 12 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:49.459 | 1.129 |
| 13 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 1:49.503 | 1.173 |
| 14 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:49.506 | 1.176 |
| 15 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 1:49.531 | 1.201 |
| 16 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:49.564 | 1.234 |
| 17 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 1:49.665 | 1.335 |
| 18 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:49.852 | 1.522 |
| 19 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 1:49.909 | 1.579 |
| 20 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:50.211 | 1.881 |
| 21 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:50.302 | 1.972 |
| 22 | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI |  |
QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 1:50.597 | 2.267 |
| 23 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 14 | 1:50.699 | 2.369 |
| 24 | 23 | Tamás TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:50.764 | 2.434 |
| 25 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 1:50.772 | 2.442 |
| 26 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:51.094 | 2.764 |
| 27 | 5 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 14 | 1:51.272 | 2.942 |
| 28 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 14 | 1:51.308 | 2.978 |
| 29 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 3 | 1:51.363 | 3.033 |
| 30 | 44 | Lilou WADOUX | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 1:51.635 | 3.305 |
| 31 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 1:51.979 | 3.649 |
| 32 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR | 15 | 1:53.539 | 5.209 |