Team Clairet Sport’s Jimmy Clairet set the fastest time by just six thousandths from Josh Files in a shortened second practice session for TCR Europe at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Frenchman set the pace on only his second flying lap, going faster than Julien Briché’s opening practice benchmark with a time of 2:31.026.
With most cars only completing a handful of laps, a red flag then stopped the session as Briché crashed his Peugeot 308 TCR at the top of Raidillon with ten minutes remaining.
Briché’s Peugeot suffered heavy front-end damage and the extensive barrier damage meant the session did not resume as repairs were necessitated.
Before the stoppage, championship leader Files set a lap just 0.006s off Clairet’s time, going purple in the middle sector to set a personal best on his fourth tour of the circuit.
Stian Paulsen’s self-run CUPRA TCR enjoyed encouraging early pace to end the session in third, just 0.026 off the overall pace.
Next was Comtoyou Racing’s Gilles Magnus in his Audi RS 3 LMS, remarkably the fourth car to be under a tenth off Clairet’s benchmark in what was ultimately not a representative session for most runners.
Teddy Clariet completed the top five in the fellow Peugeot 308, ahead of reigning TCR UK champion Dan Lloyd in the Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda.
In seventh position was Gianni Mordbidelli as the fastest Volkswagen runner, with Nelson Panciatici’s Hyundai in eigth position.
Peugeot’s Aurélien Comte placed ninth, while M1RA Motorsport’s Luca Engstler completed the top ten ahead of 2017 BTCC champion Ash Sutton.
Engstler’s team-mate Dániel Nagy was next, ahead of fellow Hyundai runner Mat’o Homola.
Briché would end up in 14th, a second and a half off the pace before his shunt at Raidillon, with Olli Kangas completing the top 15.
Qualifying for the opening TCR Europe contest at Spa-Francorchamps is scheduled to get underway tomorrow morning [8 June] at 09:30 CEST [08:30 BST].
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET |  |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | 2:31.026 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 9 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 2:31.032 | 0.006 |
| 3 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 5 | 2:31.052 | 0.026 |
| 4 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:31.113 | 0.087 |
| 5 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | 2:31.268 | 0.242 |
| 6 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 2:31.537 | 0.511 |
| 7 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:31.729 | 0.703 |
| 8 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:31.901 | 0.875 |
| 9 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 6 | 2:31.949 | 0.923 |
| 10 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 4 | 2:31.952 | 0.926 |
| 11 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:32.222 | 1.196 |
| 12 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:32.365 | 1.339 |
| 13 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 2:32.496 | 1.470 |
| 14 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 4 | 2:32.581 | 1.555 |
| 15 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 4 | 2:32.725 | 1.699 |
| 16 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 2:33.091 | 2.065 |
| 17 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 2:33.376 | 2.350 |
| 18 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 2:33.504 | 2.478 |
| 19 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 6 | 2:33.511 | 2.485 |
| 20 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:33.602 | 2.576 |
| 21 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:33.856 | 2.830 |
| 22 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 2:33.866 | 2.840 |
| 23 | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI |  |
QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 5 | 2:34.263 | 3.237 |
| 24 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 2:34.378 | 3.352 |
| 25 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 5 | 2:34.555 | 3.529 |
| 26 | 44 | Lilou WADOUX | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 5 | 2:34.571 | 3.545 |
| 27 | 14 | Klim GAVRILOV |  |
VRC Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 6 | 2:35.098 | 4.072 |
| 28 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 4 | 2:35.275 | 4.249 |
| 29 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 5 | 2:35.319 | 4.293 |
| 30 | 38 | Lewis KENT | |
Essex & Kent Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 2:36.485 | 5.459 |
| 31 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR | 5 | 2:36.702 | 5.676 |
| 32 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 6 | 2:37.328 | 6.302 |
| 33 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 2:51.386 | 20.360 |
| 34 | 23 | Tamás TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 4 | 3:06.236 | 35.210 |