Brutal Fish Racing Team’s Dan Lloyd doubled up to top both TCR Europe practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring after further late improvements again saw the reigning TCR UK champion head the field in Spielberg.
Opening practice pacesetter Lloyd was lingering around the top three in the half-hour session before setting the benchmark and then improving on it as the only runner to dip under the 1-minute 37-second mark.
His 1.36.867 time around the 2.7-mile circuit was not challenged in the dying minutes, and while Gilles Magnus’ Audi RS 3 LMS improved he was nearly two-and-a-half tenths adrift of Lloyd’s lap before he was black-flagged for repeated track limit infringements.
Heading the Hyundai challenge was M1RA’s Luca Engstler who repeated his earlier practice form in third, as did Gianni Morbidelli who improved one position in the late afternoon session to place fourth in the Volkswagen.
Completing the top five was Davit Kajaia – before he too was black-flagged – while fellow CUPRA runner Alex Morgan posted an impressive performance to end the session sixth, improving by over half a second from first practice.
The session saw a total of seven drivers penalised for repeatedly infringing track limits, with the majority of runners abusing the exit of the first corner.
The first of those was Martin Ryba’s Honda, before Stian Paulsen, Victor Davidovski and Nelson Panciatici were also forced to end their sessions early.
Notably, both Magnus and Kajaia received their black flags after their late improvements which placed them in the top five.
Team WRT’s Maxime Potty was seventh, with Spa podium finisher Andreas Bäckman in eighth ahead of fellow Hyundai runner Dániel Nagy, while Tom Coronel’s Honda Civic Type R FK7 rounded out the top ten.
Santiago Urrutia just missed out in 11th, while Luca Filippi placed 12th ahead of four Target Competition Hyundais, with Mat’o Homola, Josh Files, Jessica Bäckman and Dušan Borković occupying 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th respectively.
Championship leader Julien Briché again struggled down in 24th position, surrrounded by the two fellow Peugeots of Teddy Clairet and Aurélien Comte, all appearing to be strugglign with the 60kg of compensation weight applied to the French machinery for this weekend.
Qualifying for the opening TCR Europe race of the weekend at the Red Bull Ring is scheduled to get underway at 10:10 CEST [09:10 BST].
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 12 | 1:36.867 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 1:37.112 | 0.245 |
| 3 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 1:37.216 | 0.349 |
| 4 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 1:37.255 | 0.388 |
| 5 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 15 | 1:37.255 | 0.388 |
| 6 | 5 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 9 | 1:37.303 | 0.436 |
| 7 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 1:37.342 | 0.475 |
| 8 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:37.362 | 0.495 |
| 9 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:37.363 | 0.496 |
| 10 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 17 | 1:37.413 | 0.546 |
| 11 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 1:37.422 | 0.555 |
| 12 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:37.456 | 0.589 |
| 13 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 1:37.459 | 0.592 |
| 14 | 9 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 1:37.463 | 0.596 |
| 15 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 1:37.537 | 0.670 |
| 16 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:37.592 | 0.725 |
| 17 | 23 | Tamás TENKE | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 16 | 1:37.664 | 0.797 |
| 18 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI |  |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:37.690 | 0.823 |
| 19 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 1:37.768 | 0.901 |
| 20 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 1:38.101 | 1.234 |
| 21 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:38.367 | 1.500 |
| 22 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 12 | 1:38.430 | 1.563 |
| 23 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 1:38.529 | 1.662 |
| 24 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 1:38.621 | 1.754 |
| 25 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 16 | 1:38.623 | 1.756 |
| 26 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:38.698 | 1.831 |
| 27 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 11 | 1:38.702 | 1.835 |
| 28 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 9 | 1:39.156 | 2.289 |
| 29 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 17 | 1:41.038 | 4.171 |