Josh Files ended the opening practice day of the TCR Europe season with the fastest time of all, after the Target Competition driver bagged the top time in second practice at the Autodromo do Algarve.
2019 champion Files posted a lap of 1 minute 52.047 seconds to go two tenths of a second faster than fellow Hyundai Elantra racer Mat’o Homola had been in the afternoon’s earlier session.
The Brit ended up two tenths of a second faster than Volcano Motorsport’s Klim Gavrilov, who was the leading CUPRA racer at the Portuguese circuit.
Sébastien Loeb Racing’s John Filippi put his CUPRA in third, ahead of the second Volcano car of Spaniard Isidro Callejas in fourth.
Pepe Oriola was the best of the Honda contingent in fifth for Brutal Fish Racing, ahead of Franco Girolami’s leading Audi in sixth.
Local racer Luís Cidade, in Comtoyou Racing’s satellite team, was seventh, ahead of first practice pace-setter Homola in eighth in the best of the Janík Motorsport cars.
The top ten was completed by Homola’s team-mate Jáchym Galáš and Comtoyou Racing’s Tom Coronel.
As in first practice, the second Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou Racing Audi of Miklas Born failed to post a time.
Qualifying is scheduled to take place at 09:35 on Saturday, followed by race one at 15:15 local time (15:15 BST, 16:15 CEST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 99 |  |
Josh FILES | Target Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:52.047 | – |
| 2 | 14 |  |
Klim GAVRILOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 1:52.289 | 0.242 |
| 3 | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 1:52.357 | 0.310 |
| 4 | 26 |  |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 1:52.527 | 0.480 |
| 5 | 74 | |
Pepe ORIOLA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 11 | 1:52.564 | 0.517 |
| 6 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 11 | 1:52.599 | 0.552 |
| 7 | 2 |  |
Luís CIDADE | Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 13 | 1:52.629 | 0.582 |
| 8 | 70 |  |
Mat’o HOMOLA | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:52.651 | 0.604 |
| 9 | 24 |  |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 1:52.700 | 0.653 |
| 10 | 33 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 11 | 1:52.756 | 0.709 |
| 11 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 12 | 1:52.830 | 0.783 |
| 12 | 53 | |
Michelle HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 12 | 1:53.033 | 0.986 |
| 13 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 13 | 1:53.059 | 1.012 |
| 14 | 62 | |
Jack YOUNG | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 7 | 1:53.186 | 1.139 |
| 15 | 17 | |
Martin RYBA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 12 | 1:53.329 | 1.282 |
| 16 | 44 |  |
Felice JELMINI | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:53.385 | 1.338 |
| 17 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 1:53.490 | 1.443 |
| 18 | 124 | |
Gustavo MOURA JR | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 1:54.077 | 2.030 |
| 19 | 16 | |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 1:54.407 | 2.360 |
| 20 | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | Lema Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 12 | 1:54.914 | 2.867 |
| 21 | 18 |  |
Miklas BORN | Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 0 | No time | N/A |