Thed Björk led a Lynk & Co 1-2 in second practice for the FIA world touring Car Cup at Zandvoort, with Cyan Racing team-mate Yann Ehrlacher in second and the Hyundai of Norbert Michelisz in third.
Björk went to the top of the times after just under 20 minutes of the half-hour session, putting in a lap of 1 minute 45.161 seconds which was around half a second quicker than the afternoon’s earlier practice pace.
The Swede was followed by Cyan Performance’s Ehrlacher, who moved up to second, less than a tenth of a second behind, in the closing seconds of the session.
Michelisz had put his BRC Racing Hyundai near the sharp end of the times, just under two tenths off the pace, in the final few minutes, at a circuit which proved to be the bogey venue for the i30 N TCR last year.
SLR duo Johan Kristoffersson and Benjamin Leuchter were fourth and fifth fastest in their Volkswagens, putting in the best performance of the Golf GTi cars so far this year in a single-lap timed session.
Comtoyou Racing’s Aurélien Panis was the leading CUPRA driver in sixth, just half a tenth ahead of team-mate and home favourite Tom Coronel in seventh.
PWR Racing’s Daniel Haglöf made it three CUPRAs in a row in eighth, whilst the Münnich Motorsport Honda of Esteban Guerrieri and PWR Racing’s Mikel Azcona completed the top ten.
Jean-Karl Vernay was the best of the Audi drivers in 11th, ahead of the Comtoyou Racing RS3 of Niels Langeveld in 12th, the duo being more than half a second off the pace as the cars from the Ingolstadt marque endured a slow start to the weekend.
Championship leader Néstor Girolami was just 13th fastest in the second-best Honda, whilst the afternoon’s earlier pace-setter, KCMG’s Attila Tassi, was only 19th this time around.
Cyan Performance’s Andy Priaulx was the leading Brit in 14th, whilst WRT’s Gordon Shedden continued to struggle for pace and was just 24th, ahead of SLR’s Rob Huff in 25th. Shedden was, however, closer to the pace this time around, 1.3 seconds adrift.
BRC Racing’s reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini was slowest of all in his Hyundai in 26th, 1.5 seconds off the pace.
Qualifying for race one takes place at 08:05 CEST (07:05 BST) on Saturday.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 12 | 1:45.161 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | 1:45.243 | 0.082 |
| 3 | 5 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:45.329 | 0.168 |
| 4 | 14 | Johan KRISTOFFERSSON | |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 1:45.506 | 0.345 |
| 5 | 33 | Benjamin LEUCHTER |  |
SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:45.523 | 0.362 |
| 6 | 21 | Aurélien PANIS | |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:45.552 | 0.391 |
| 7 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing | CUPRA TCR | 10 | 1:45.612 | 0.451 |
| 8 | 37 | Daniel HAGLÖF | |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:45.627 | 0.466 |
| 9 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 10 | 1:45.650 | 0.489 |
| 10 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
PWR Racing | CUPRA TCR | 14 | 1:45.706 | 0.545 |
| 11 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:45.733 | 0.572 |
| 12 | 10 | Niels LANGEVELD | |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 1:45.743 | 0.582 |
| 13 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 11 | 1:45.743 | 0.582 |
| 14 | 111 | Andy PRIAULX |  |
Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | 1:45.753 | 0.592 |
| 15 | 88 | Nicky CATSBURG | |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:45.896 | 0.735 |
| 16 | 100 | Yvan MULLER | |
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 9 | 1:45.898 | 0.737 |
| 17 | 31 | Kevin CECCON |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 12 | 1:45.931 | 0.770 |
| 18 | 55 | Ma QING HUA |  |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 11 | 1:45.985 | 0.824 |
| 19 | 9 | Attila TASSI | |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 12 | 1:46.003 | 0.842 |
| 20 | 8 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:46.049 | 0.888 |
| 21 | 22 | Frédéric VERVISCH |  |
Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:46.136 | 0.975 |
| 22 | 25 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 1:46.153 | 0.992 |
| 23 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
KCMG | Honda Civic Type R TCR | 11 | 1:46.173 | 1.012 |
| 24 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:46.559 | 1.398 |
| 25 | 12 | Rob HUFF | |
SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 1:46.648 | 1.487 |
| 26 | 1 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 1:46.670 | 1.509 |