Comtoyou Racing’s Nathanaël Berthon was the fastest driver in the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup free practice at Circuit Anneau du Rhin on Saturday, a tenth of a second ahead of Hyundai’s Norbert Michelisz.
The 45-minute session was ultimate red-flagged with just two minutes remaining on the clock, when Berthon’s team-mate Tom Coronel spun his Audi into the gravel, leading to the decision to not restart the session.
12 cars took to the track in the wake of Cyan Racing’s surprise decision to withdraw from the remainder of the WTCR season after citing ongoing tyre safety concerns.
BRC Racing’s Michelisz had topped the times for much of the session after his early effort of 1 minute 26.717 seconds, but Berthon went quickest just minutes before the red flags flew with an effort of 1:26.566, 0.151 seconds faster than his Hungarian rival.
Championship leader Mikel Azcona was third, also within two tenths, ahead of Gilles Magnus’ Audi in fourth.
Attila Tassi was the leading Honda driver in fifth, ahead of the Audi’s of Mehdi Bennani and Coronel in sixth and seventh respectively.
Rob Huff, now third in the drivers’ standings, put his Zengő Motorsport CUPRA in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by Münnich Motorsport’s Néstor Girolami and Esteban Guerrieri.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:30 CEST (11:30 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 17 |  |
Nathanaël BERTHON | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 24 | 1:26.566 | – |
| 2 | 5 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 17 | 1:26.717 | 0.151 |
| 3 | 96 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 16 | 1:26.746 | 0.180 |
| 4 | 16 |  |
Gilles MAGNUS | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 21 | 1:26.806 | 0.240 |
| 5 | 9 | |
Attila TASSI | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 21 | 1:26.873 | 0.307 |
| 6 | 25 |  |
Mehdi BENNANI | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 20 | 1:26.878 | 0.312 |
| 7 | 33 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 21 | 1:27.115 | 0.549 |
| 8 | 79 |  |
Rob HUFF | Zengő Motorsport Services Kft | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 20 | 1:27.362 | 0.796 |
| 9 | 29 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 19 | 1:27.471 | 0.905 |
| 10 | 86 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | 1:27.828 | 1.262 |
| 11 | 99 | |
Dániel NAGY | Zengő Motorsport Services Kft | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 23 | 1:27.845 | 1.279 |
| 12 | 18 |  |
Tiago MONTEIRO | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 22 | 1:28.382 | 1.816 |