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.
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 |