ComToYou Racing’s Sami Taoufik set the fastest time in the opening practice session of the TCR Europe series in Barcelona.
Taoufik’s 1 minute 55.581 was over half a second ahead of his closest competitor John Filippi, with the Target Competition driver managing a 1 minute 56.100 time and was just 0.015 seconds faster than teammate and long-time session leader Jessica Bäckman.
Second in the championship standings Nicolas Baeret was fourth fastest 0.112 seconds behind the Swede, with the CUPRA TCR of Evgeni Leonov rounding out the top five.
Series leader Dan Lloyd only managed 15th quickest in the Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR, while rival Mehdi Bennani took 11th in another of the ComToYou Racing Audi’s.
Sixth in FP1 went to Pepe Oriola, with Mike Halder, Andreas Bäckman, Daniel Nagy and Teddy Clairet completing the top ten.
Series returnee José Manuel Sapag meanwhile was 20th aboard the Target Competition Hyundai, while Martin Ryba went off into a gravel trap late in the session.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 17:30 CEST (16:30 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 25 | Sami TAOUFIK |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:55.581 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 27 | John FILIPPI |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:56.100 | 0.519 |
| 3 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:56.115 | 0.534 |
| 4 | 8 | Nicolas BAERT |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:56.227 | 0.646 |
| 5 | 16 | Evgenii LEONOV |  |
Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:56.348 | 0.767 |
| 6 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 1:56.548 | 0.967 |
| 7 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:56.670 | 1.089 |
| 8 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 1:56.803 | 1.222 |
| 9 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:56.886 | 1.305 |
| 10 | 20 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:57.030 | 1.449 |
| 11 | 250 | Mehdi BENNANI | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:57.096 | 1.515 |
| 12 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:57.209 | 1.628 |
| 13 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:57.318 | 1.737 |
| 14 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 1:57.489 | 1.908 |
| 15 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | 1:57.895 | 2.314 |
| 16 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:58.022 | 2.441 |
| 17 | 6 | Jean Laurent NAVARRO | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 10 | 1:58.155 | 2.574 |
| 18 | 4 | Florian BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:58.161 | 2.580 |
| 19 | 21 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:58.315 | 2.734 |
| 20 | 33 | José Manuel SAPAG |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:58.324 | 2.743 |
| 21 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:58.607 | 3.026 |
| 22 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 2:00.880 | 5.299 |