TCR Europe championship leader Franco Girolami laid down a marker for the weekend by posting the fastest time in the opening free practice session at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday.
The Comtoyou Racing driver hit the top of the times with just over three minutes of the session remaining with a lap of 1 minute 54.203 seconds, edging out Halder Motorsport’s Jack Young, who had just earlier posted a best lap of 1:54.245.
It left the champion-elect 0.042 seconds clear at the top of the times in the leading Audi, whilst his only rival in the title fight, Target Competition’s Josh Files, was only ninth, almost nine tenths of a second slower than Girolami.
“This was a very good start to the weekend; it’s always very important to start like this,” said Girolami, who is also the leader of the all-new TCR World Rankings revealed on Friday morning.
“I am very confident with the car but I know we have some things we can improve, for sure. Carrying 30 kg, I expected a little bit less, maybe to be in the top five, because there are a lot of very good drivers with less weight than me, so to start like this is amazing.
“Okay, this is only the beginning but it’s always better to start like this. In Free Practice, you never know if another driver uses new tyres or not.
“Tomorrow, qualifying will be at the same time and with roughly the same temperatures, so I think we will be quite okay.”
Girolami’s team-mate Tom Coronel put his Audi in third, three tenths off the pace, ahead of the top Hyundai of Aggressive Team Italia’s Pepe Oriola in fourth, the Spaniard being just under half a second back.
Just behind his compatriot was the leading CUPRA of Volcano Motorsport’s Isidro Callejas, who was followed by the second Honda of Mike Halder in sixth.
Target’s Nicola Baldan was seventh fastest, just one thousandth of a second ahead of series newcomer Frédéric Vervisch in eighth.
The session had to be red-flagged with around 12 minutes to go when both Vervisch and Marco Butti stopped their Audis on track with unrelated technical issues.
The top ten was completed by Files’ Hyundai and Felipe Fernández’s Audi, the latter being over a second off the pace.
Series newcomer Samuel Sládečka only managed a minute into the session before going off in his Hyundai at Turn 1, bringing out a brief full-course yellow flag period.
22 cars took to the track – Target had earlier confirmed that Felice Jelmini would not take part in the session, marking the Italian’s first missed event since joining the series at the start of 2021.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 15:05 CEST (14:05 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | 1:54.203 | – |
| 2 | 62 |  |
Jack YOUNG | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 11 | 1:54.245 | 0.042 |
| 3 | 33 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:54.537 | 0.334 |
| 4 | 74 |  |
Pepe ORIOLA | Aggressive Team Italia Asd | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:54.674 | 0.471 |
| 5 | 26 | |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 1:54.695 | 0.492 |
| 6 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 11 | 1:54.766 | 0.563 |
| 7 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:55.076 | 0.873 |
| 8 | 22 |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 7 | 1:55.077 | 0.874 |
| 9 | 99 | |
Josh FILES | Target Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 5 | 1:55.087 | 0.884 |
| 10 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | 1:55.540 | 1.337 |
| 11 | 14 |  |
Klim GAVRILOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 12 | 1:55.652 | 1.449 |
| 12 | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Sébastien Loeb Racing – Bardahl Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 1:55.789 | 1.586 |
| 13 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:55.929 | 1.726 |
| 14 | 12 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:55.945 | 1.742 |
| 15 | 111 | |
Marco BUTTI | Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 5 | 1:55.993 | 1.790 |
| 16 | 24 |  |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Hyundai Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:56.027 | 1.824 |
| 17 | 10 | |
Alejandro GEPPERT | Teo Martín Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:56.107 | 1.904 |
| 18 | 16 | |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 1:56.264 | 2.061 |
| 19 | 53 | |
Michelle HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 11 | 1:56.338 | 2.135 |
| 20 | 37 |  |
Sergio LÓPEZ | Auto Club RC2 Valles | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 10 | 1:56.599 | 2.396 |
| 21 | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | Lema Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 11 | 1:57.612 | 3.409 |
| 22 | 4 |  |
Samuel SLÁDEČKA | Hyundai Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:59.478 | 5.275 |