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Sami Taoufik leads Klim Gavrilov in second TCR Europe practice

After the earlier pace-setting display of Niels Langeveld, Sebastien Loeb Racing’s Sami Taoufik followed in the footsteps of his team-mate by topping the time sheets in free practice two.

The final session before qualifying for the TCR Europe Series finale saw the young Moroccan driver post a lap time of 01:55.118 around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. In the end, this would put him over two tenths of a second clear of the next best driver, Klim Gavrilov, who has been looking very competitive in his new seat at Volcano Motorsport.

A late dash from the majority of drivers saw plenty of times flood in towards the end of the session. One of which came from championship contender Franco Girolami, elevating him up to third with a lap time of 01:55.451.

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Nicolas Baert also improved with just a few minutes left on the clock, edging him into fourth ahead of Jimmy Clairet.

Niels Langeveld once again looked quick, but didn’t quite reach the same heights that he managed in free practice one. On this occasion, he would register the sixth fastest lap time.

Isidro Callejas did well on home turf for Brutal Fish Racing to go seventh-quickest, while the top eight was concluded by the second of the Clairet brothers, Teddy.

Mehdi Bennani ensured that three of the SLR Elantra quartet made it into the top nine. In tenth though, Evgenii Leonov will be pleased with his performance in the second Volcano Motorsport CUPRA.

The third of which, however, didn’t take part in any practice laps at all. That is of course the car of championship points leader Mikel Azcona, who has been away on WTCR duties this afternoon. But, a break in play for the World Cup on Saturday means that the Spaniard will be able to fly over from the Czech Republic in order to take part in qualifying and race one.

He’ll have to do so without having turned a wheel at the circuit so far, though the local driver will hope that his existing track knowledge is enough to ensure his competitiveness. The team will also have learnt plenty from the good form of Gavrilov in particular throughout today.

It’s still all to play for in the TCR Europe Series title fight. Qualifying kicks off tomorrow at 10:40 local time (09:40 BST).

Session results

POS NO NAT DRIVER ENTRANT CAR LAPS TIME GAP
1 25 Sami TAOUFIK Sébastien Loeb Racing Hyundai Elantra N TCR 7 1:55.118
2 14 Klim GAVRILOV Volcano Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 9 1:55.404 0.286
3 72 Franco GIROLAMI PSS Racing Team Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 9 1:55.451 0.333
4 8 Nicolas BAERT Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR 11 1:55.512 0.394
5 21 Jimmy CLAIRET Team Clairet Sport Peugeot 308 TCR 7 1:55.515 0.397
6 10 Niels LANGEVELD Sébastien Loeb Racing Hyundai Elantra N TCR 9 1:55.540 0.422
7 26 Isidro CALLEJAS Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 8 1:55.642 0.524
8 20 Teddy CLAIRET Team Clairet Sport Peugeot 308 TCR 9 1:55.856 0.738
9 250 Mehdi BENNANI Sébastien Loeb Racing Hyundai Elantra N TCR 7 1:55.893 0.775
10 16 Evgenii LEONOV Volcano Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 7 1:55.957 0.839
11 62 Jack YOUNG Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 3 1:55.965 0.847
12 17 Martin RYBA Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 10 1:56.020 0.902
13 110 Viktor DAVIDOVSKI PSS Racing Team Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR 10 1:56.245 1.127
14 24 Jáchym GALÁŠ Janík Motorsport Hyundai i30 N TCR 9 1:56.495 1.377
15 19 Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil RC2 Junior Team CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 12 1:56.575 1.457
16 101 Sergio LÓPEZ RC2 Junior Team CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 4 1:56.658 1.540
17 77 Sylvain PUSSIER Team Clairet Sport CUPRA TCR 10 1:57.159 2.041
18 70 Mat’o HOMOLA Janík Motorsport Hyundai i30 N TCR 4 1:57.162 2.044
19 44 Felice JELMINI Sébastien Loeb Racing Hyundai Elantra N TCR 3 1:57.312 2.194
20 3 Giacomo GHERMANDI Lema Racing CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 4 1:57.387 2.269
21 66 Gilles COLOMBANI Team Clairet Sport CUPRA TCR 11 1:57.878 2.760
22 162 Dušan BORKOVIĆ Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR 0 No time N/A
23 96 Mikel AZCONA Volcano Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición TCR 0 No time N/A
24 32 Tom CORONEL Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR 0 No time N/A
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