Esteban Guerrieri tops wet opening Hungaroring practice

Esteban Guerrieri emerged as the fastest driver from the opening World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) practice session, posting a lap time of 2 minutes 5.936 seconds around the Hungaroring.

On a wet track, Guerrieri was quickest by a margin of just one hundredth of a second from Zengő Motorsport‘s Mikel Azcona in second place, the Spaniard’s CUPRA again looking as rapid as it had done in Slovakia last week.

Despite the increased success ballast in his Audi, Nathanaël Berthon made use of the damp conditions to minimise the impact of his car’s weight gain by going third quickest, a mere four thousandths of a second slower than Azcona.

Gilles Magnus was next up in another of the Comtoyou Racing Audis in fourth place, while Gabriele Tarquini was the best of the Hyundai bunch in fifth.

After a torrid weekend last time out, Néstor Girolami started this one as the sixth fastest driver in free practice one in his new Honda, around eight tenths off the pace of team-mate Guerrieri.

The quickest Lynk & Co driver in this session was Sweden’s Thed Björk in seventh place, and a good showing from Münnich Motorsport’s Tiago Monteiro secured him a position in the top eight.

Championship leader Yann Ehrlacher was ninth, while reigning champion and home favourite Norbert Michelisz rounded out the top ten, despite being hampered by a misfire throughout the session. The Hungarian was also the last driver within a second of the pace.

Elsewhere, Tom Coronel came back down from the highs of the Slovakiaring to end up as the fourteenth fastest driver in this session, going marginally quicker than local driver Bence Boldizs in fifteenth.

Boldizs’ Hungarian compatriots, Attila Tassi and Gàbor Kismarty-Lechner completed the session in seventeenth and twenty-second place respectively, while there was work to do for the two new drivers on the grid as well.

WTCR rookie José Manuel Sapag survived a spin at turn one to end practice one in twenty-first, while Nico Gruber was twentieth.

Free Practice two is scheduled to get underway at 13:30 CEST (12:30 BST).

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	13	2:05.936	0.000
2	96	Mikel AZCONA		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición	18	2:06.045	0.109
3	17	Nathanaël BERTHON		Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	15	2:06.049	0.113
4	16	Gilles MAGNUS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	15	2:06.586	0.650
5	30	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	14	2:06.729	0.793
6	29	Néstor GIROLAMI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	15	2:06.763	0.827
7	11	Thed BJÖRK		Cyan Performance	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	14	2:06.765	0.829
8	18	Tiago MONTEIRO		ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	17	2:06.802	0.866
9	68	Yann EHRLACHER		Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	15	2:06.877	0.941
10	1	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	17	2:06.913	0.977
11	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	16	2:07.045	1.109
12	12	Santiago URRUTIA		Cyan Performance	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	17	2:07.046	1.110
13	100	Yvan MULLER		Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	16	2:07.247	1.311
14	31	Tom CORONEL		Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	2:07.299	1.363
15	55	Bence BOLDIZS		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición	18	2:07.450	1.514
16	8	Luca ENGSTLER		Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	2:07.698	1.762
17	9	Attila TASSI		ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	15	2:07.752	1.816
18	34	Aurélien COMTE		Vuković Motorsport	Renault Mégane RS TCR	15	2:08.087	2.151
19	25	Luca FILIPPI		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	16	2:09.012	3.076
20	97	Nicolas GRUBER		Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	2:10.391	4.455
21	28	José Manuel SAPAG		Target Competition	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	2:11.264	5.328
22	99	Gábor KISMARTY-LECHNER		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición	17	2:12.916	6.980