Teddy Clairet led his brother Jimmy in the times in the first TCR Europe practice session at circuit Paul Ricard in France, as the Frenchmen went fastest on home soil.
Teddy hit the top of the times before the halfway stage of the half-hour session with his lap of 2 minutes 14.531 seconds, which proved to be quick enough to remain there for the remainder of the session.
His brother Jimmy joined him in the final minutes of the session, going just 0.016 seconds slower, as the duo proved their 308 TCR cars would be competitive in the South of France.
Ahead of the weekend the Peugeot 308 TCR cars had been handed a 10 kg weight break in the latest changes to the TCR balance of Performance (BoP) calculations.
“This is a great way to start the weekend, even if it is only free practice,” said Teddy Clairet. “At the Slovakiaring, we had a bad weekend with some mistakes and some bad luck and so we hope to do well here.
“If there is one track in the season that I know better than any other, it’s here. Otherwise, being at home is the same for me as for all the others; it doesn’t change anything, and I just want to do well.
“It’s important not to stay in a bad feeling after you have a weekend like we did in Slovakia.
“I’ve spent time thinking about it, but this is a new weekend and we will concentrate on having a much better result.”
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Niels Langeveld was third fastest in his Hyundai Elantra N, just a tenth off the top time, with the Dutchman’s improvement, like many, coming in the final seconds of the session.
Klim Gavrilov was the best Audi driver in fourth, the Russian being four tenths off the pace, ahead of Franco Girolami’s Honda in fifth, who had been third quickest near the end before slipping down the order as times rapidly improved.
Tom Coronel put his Comtoyou Racing Audi in sixth, ahead of an impressive effort by the CUPRA of Sylvain Pussier in seventh, the Frenchman showing his most competitive session in the series to-date at his home circuit.
Felice Jelmini was the second-best of the SLR Hyundai runners in eighth, with the top ten being completed by Mat’o Homola in the Hyundai i30 N and Jack Young in the best of the Brutal Fish Racing Honda Civics.
Viktor Davidovski had been third fastest at one stage, but the Macedonian slipped to 11th at the end of the session, the last driver to be within a second of the pace.
Moroccan duo Mehdi Bennani and Sami Taoufik just missed out on the top ten and were 12th and 13th respectively in their Hyundai Elantras.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 16:40 CEST (15:40 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 20 |  |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 2:14.531 | – |
| 2 | 21 | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 2:14.547 | 0.016 |
| 3 | 10 |  |
Niels LANGEVELD | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 2:14.638 | 0.107 |
| 4 | 14 |  |
Klim GAVRILOV | VRC-Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:14.944 | 0.413 |
| 5 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 2:14.956 | 0.425 |
| 6 | 32 | |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 2:15.224 | 0.693 |
| 7 | 77 | |
Sylvain PUSSIER | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:15.248 | 0.717 |
| 8 | 44 |  |
Felice JELMINI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 2:15.363 | 0.832 |
| 9 | 70 |  |
Mat’o HOMOLA | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 2:15.421 | 0.890 |
| 10 | 62 |  |
Jack YOUNG | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 11 | 2:15.491 | 0.960 |
| 11 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 2:15.517 | 0.986 |
| 12 | 250 |  |
Mehdi BENNANI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:15.538 | 1.007 |
| 13 | 25 | |
Sami TAOUFIK | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:16.167 | 1.636 |
| 14 | 8 |  |
Nicolas BAERT | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:16.221 | 1.690 |
| 15 | 26 |  |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 11 | 2:16.357 | 1.826 |
| 16 | 162 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 2:16.502 | 1.971 |
| 17 | 16 | |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 2:16.673 | 2.142 |
| 18 | 24 | |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 2:17.032 | 2.501 |
| 19 | 66 | |
Gilles COLOMBANI | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 2:17.287 | 2.756 |
| 20 | 17 | |
Martin RYBA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 2:17.334 | 2.803 |