Ma Qing Hua tops first WTCR practice at Ningbo

Home hereo Ma Qing Hua put his Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo on top of the times in first practice for the FIA World Touring Car Cup at the Ningbo Speedpark in China, edging out Honda’s Néstor Girolami by less than a tenth of a second.

Ma’s lap of 1 minute 51.419 seconds was enough to put him on top of the times towards the end of the 45-minute session, as Münnich Motorsport’s Girolami came closest to denying the Chinese driver the top spot at his home circuit.

Championship leader Esteban Guerrieri was third, two tenths further back from his team-mate, ahead of the leading Hyundai of Nicky Catsburg in fourth.

Augusto Farfus was immediately behind his BRC Racing team-mate in fifth, whilst SLR’s Rob Huff was the leading Volkswagen racer in sixth, the Brit having been fastest of all after half an hour before slipping down the order in the final 15 minutes.

PWR Racing’s Mikel Azcona was the best CUPRA driver in seventh, ahead of the Comtoyou Racing CUPRA of Aurélien Panis in eighth.

The leading Audi of Frédéric Vervisch and SLR’s Benjamin Leuchter completed the top ten, with both drivers being over a second off the pace.

Despite a Balance of Performance [BoP] change relating to the boost pressures ahead of the event, none of the drivers for Chinese car manufacturer Lynk & Co made the top ten, with Yvan Muller the best in 12^th. The engine power level of the car remains at 97.5% along with the Hyundais.

Second practice gets underway at 09:00 local time (02:00 BST, 03:00 CEST) on Saturday, followed by qualifying for race one at 11:00 local time.

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	55	Ma QING HUA		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	18	1:51.419	0.000
2	29	Néstor GIROLAMI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	19	1:51.495	0.076
3	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R TCR	15	1:51.725	0.306
4	88	Nicky CATSBURG		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	15	1:51.974	0.555
5	8	Augusto FARFUS		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	1:52.018	0.599
6	12	Rob HUFF		SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	1:52.225	0.806
7	96	Mikel AZCONA		PWR Racing	CUPRA TCR	19	1:52.303	0.884
8	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing	CUPRA TCR	14	1:52.339	0.920
9	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	15	1:52.430	1.011
10	33	Benjamin LEUCHTER		SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	15	1:52.548	1.129
11	5	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	18	1:52.552	1.133
12	100	Yvan MULLER		Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	1:52.559	1.140
13	1	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	15	1:52.603	1.184
14	25	Mehdi BENNANI		SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	13	1:52.898	1.479
15	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	1:52.898	1.479
16	111	Andy PRIAULX		Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	1:52.941	1.522
17	37	Daniel HAGLÖF		PWR Racing	CUPRA TCR	16	1:52.962	1.543
18	11	Thed BJÖRK		Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	1:52.976	1.557
19	14	Johan KRISTOFFERSSON		SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	15	1:53.027	1.608
20	31	Kevin CECCON		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	13	1:53.033	1.614
21	68	Yann EHRLACHER		Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	1:53.084	1.665
22	18	Tiago MONTEIRO		KCMG	Honda Civic Type R TCR	17	1:53.166	1.747
23	50	Tom CORONEL		Comtoyou DHL Team CUPRA Racing	CUPRA TCR	18	1:53.444	2.025
24	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Leopard Racing Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	15	1:53.721	2.302
25	9	Attila TASSI		KCMG	Honda Civic Type R TCR	15	1:53.863	2.444
26	10	Niels LANGEVELD		Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	19	1:54.099	2.680