Atilla Tassi topped the time sheets in the first World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) practice session of the weekend.
The Münnich Motorsport driver circulated the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 8 minutes 54.552 seconds, outpacing the Cyan Racing Lynk & Co of Yann Ehrlacher by just under a second.
Gilles Magnus was the best of the Comtoyou Racing Audis in third position with a lap time just four hundredths of a second slower than that of Ehrlacher, while Néstor Girolami ended the session in fourth place for Münnich Motorsport, nearly a full second further back.
Nathanaël Berthon – the pole position winner at Zolder – went fifth quickest in the second of the Audis, which were once again looking like a much stronger package compared to 2019.
Ehrlacher’s team-mate Yvan Muller rounded out the top six, while Tom Coronel made it a trio of Comtoyou Racing cars in the top seven.
Last year’s championship runner-up Esteban Guerrieri had a steady start to the weekend, ending the first practice session in eighth place, firmly mid-pack in this sixteen-car field.
Team Mulsanne are down to just one car this time out due to the absence of Luca Filippi, however Jean-Karl Vernay continued to fly the flag for the independent Alfa Romeo team in ninth place.
Mikel Azcona, meanwhile, was the fastest of the newly-liveried Zengő Motorsport CUPRAs in tenth.
Further down the order, Tiago Monteiro was the slowest of the Honda drivers in eleventh place, while twelfth and thirteenth position for Thed Björk and Santiago Urrutia respectively means that there’s work to do if they want to match the French half of the Cyan Racing driver line-up.
Also with work to do, Zengő Motorsport’s two Hungarian talents Bence Boldizs and Gábor Kismarty-Lechner propped up the timesheets in this session, with the latter ending up nearly two minutes off the pace.
It was another raw display from Jack Young as well in the Vuković Motorsport Renault, who was five seconds down on the Lynk & Co of Thed Björk in fourteenth. The car should be a little quicker this weekend with a kerb weight 10 kg lighter than it was at Zolder, however Young’s inexperience was apparent once more as he span off into the gravel trap at turn six on the GP loop.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 8:54.552 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 68 | Yann EHRLACHER |  |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 8:55.481 | 0.929 |
| 3 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 2 | 8:55.525 | 0.973 |
| 4 | 29 | Néstor GIROLAMI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 8:56.410 | 1.858 |
| 5 | 17 | Nathanaël BERTHON | |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 3 | 8:57.476 | 2.924 |
| 6 | 100 | Yvan MULLER | |
Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 8:58.145 | 3.593 |
| 7 | 31 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 2 | 9:00.682 | 6.130 |
| 8 | 86 | Esteban GUERRIERI | |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 9:00.870 | 6.318 |
| 9 | 69 | Jean-Karl VERNAY | |
Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR | 2 | 9:01.180 | 6.628 |
| 10 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 3 | 9:02.285 | 7.733 |
| 11 | 18 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 3 | 9:02.736 | 8.184 |
| 12 | 12 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 3 | 9:03.252 | 8.700 |
| 13 | 11 | Thed BJÖRK |  |
Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 2 | 9:04.666 | 10.114 |
| 14 | 7 | Jack YOUNG |  |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 2 | 9:10.097 | 15.545 |
| 15 | 55 | Bence BOLDIZS | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 2 | 9:36.548 | 41.996 |
| 16 | 99 | Gábor KISMARTY-LECHNER | |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición | 2 | 10:48.722 | 54.170 |