Halder Motorsport’s Jack Young topped the times in the opening TCR Europe free practice session at Monza, the Honda driver setting the fastest time at just past the halfway stage.
Young, who won the opening race of the season but currently sits 13th in the drivers’ standings, beat Comtoyou Racing’s Tom Coronel to the top time by just 0.223 seconds with his effort of 1 minute 56.475 seconds.
“That was pretty good – I didn’t even realise I was P1,” said Young, who stopped on track with an issue near the end of the session. “The result was very positive but I had a small problem with the car so we need to analyse that.
“I’m a little bit disappointed but I don’t want to jump to conclusions and so we’ll just see what it is. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and we can get it fixed.
“I definitely got a good lap and maybe everyone else is hiding their true potential at this point, but tomorrow’s a very different day and so we’ll have to see.”
Coronel, still in title contention despite missing a round earlier in the season, made several late improvements to go second with just under four minutes to go, initially with a lap of 1:56.910 before finally improving to a 1:56.698.
Championship leader Franco Girolami put his Audi in third, just behind his team-mate, the Argentine ending up just under half a second off the pace.
Volcano Motorsport’s Klim Gavrilov had been fastest just before the halfway mark, the CUPRA driver recording a best time of 1:57.121 before Young usurped him and he slipped back in the second part of the session.
Elite Motorsport’s Marco Butti put his Audi in fifth, making it three of the new RS3 cars in the top five places.
Felice Jelmini was the best-ranked Hyundai driver in sixth, the Target Competition driver being the only other driver within a second of the pace.
Jáchym Galáš put his Janík Motorsport-run Hyundai directly behind Jelmini in seventh.
Volcano Motorsport’s Isidro Callejas, Sébastien Loeb Racing’s John Filippi and Halder Motorsport’s Michelle Halder completed the top ten.
Josh Files, the main challenger to Girolami for the title, was only 11th fastest in his Hyundai, some 1.348 seconds off the pace at the circuit where he lifted the 2019 championship title.
This weekend sees the largest field of the year for TCR Europe, with three Italians, Paolo Rocca, Michele Imberti and Matteo Poloni making their débuts in the series, alongside the returning Spaniards Rubén and Felipe Fernández and Venezuelan Sergio López.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 17:44 CEST (16:44 BST) later on Friday.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 62 |  |
Jack YOUNG | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 7 | 1:56.475 | – |
| 2 | 33 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:56.698 | 0.223 |
| 3 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:56.953 | 0.478 |
| 4 | 14 |  |
Klim GAVRILOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 1:57.121 | 0.646 |
| 5 | 111 |  |
Marco BUTTI | Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:57.133 | 0.658 |
| 6 | 44 | |
Felice JELMINI | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:57.315 | 0.840 |
| 7 | 24 |  |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Hyundai Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:57.516 | 1.041 |
| 8 | 26 |  |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 1:57.593 | 1.118 |
| 9 | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Sébastien Loeb Racing – Bardahl Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 1:57.599 | 1.124 |
| 10 | 53 |  |
Michelle HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 15 | 1:57.784 | 1.309 |
| 11 | 99 | |
Josh FILES | Target Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:57.823 | 1.348 |
| 12 | 74 | |
Pepe ORIOLA | Aggressive Team Italia Asd | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 1:57.835 | 1.360 |
| 13 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:57.848 | 1.373 |
| 14 | 11 | |
Paolo ROCCA | Paolo Rocca | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 14 | 1:58.018 | 1.543 |
| 15 | 144 | |
Michele IMBERTI | Michele Imberti | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:58.050 | 1.575 |
| 16 | 12 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 1:58.184 | 1.709 |
| 17 | 7 | |
Mike HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 11 | 1:58.221 | 1.746 |
| 18 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:58.264 | 1.789 |
| 19 | 9 | |
Matteo POLONI | Matteo Poloni | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:58.371 | 1.896 |
| 20 | 16 | |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 1:58.673 | 2.198 |
| 21 | 64 |  |
Levente LOSONCZY | Aggressive Team Italia Asd | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 1:59.004 | 2.529 |
| 22 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:59.168 | 2.693 |
| 23 | 37 |  |
Sergio LÓPEZ | Auto Club RC2 Valles | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 7 | 1:59.595 | 3.120 |
| 24 | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | Lema Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 2:00.020 | 3.545 |
| 25 | 73 | |
Václav JANÍK | Hyundai Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 2:00.486 | 4.011 |