Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch led an Audi 1-2 in the opening TCR Europe / TCR World Tour free practice session at the Algarve Circuit in Portugal, with team-mate Rob Huff just 0.005 seconds adrift.
The Audis had been on top of the times in Thursday’s private testing, when it was Huff who led proceedings.
But Vervisch went quickest on Friday morning, lapping in 1 minute 51.449 seconds, around a tenth and a half slower than on Thursday.
“It’s definitely better to be at the front than at the back, but it’s TCR and so history tells us that everybody waits for qualifying; that’s where it counts and the championship gives us points so it’s important,” said Vervisch.
“Qualifying will be very important for the classification and so that’s our focus. Rob and I are working together to find our optimum in the package, as we know the competition is extremely strong.
“Rob is very fast, so we can learn from each other and I think we need to do that when we see the competition.
“Every little thing we can use to drive faster in qualifying will be very useful so let’s see what we can do.”
Hyundai’s Mikel Azcona was third, two tenths behind Huff, ahead of ALM Motorsport Néstor Girolami in fourth in the all-new Honda.
Tom Coronel put his Comtoyou Audi in fifth as the leading TCR Europe driver, ahead of the MA:GP Lynk & Co of Viktor Andersson in sixth.
Michelisz was seventh fastest in his Hyundai, ahead of the best of the facelifted Cyan Racing Lynk & Cos of Santiago Urrutia in eighth.
The top ten was completed by Comtoyou Racing’s John Filippi and Target Competition’s Dušan Borković.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 16:42 WEST / BST later on Friday.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 122 |  |
Frédéric VERVISCH | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:51.449 | – |
| 2 | 179 |  |
Rob HUFF | Audi Sport Team Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:51.454 | 0.005 |
| 3 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:51.701 | 0.252 |
| 4 | 129 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 1:51.797 | 0.348 |
| 5 | 34 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:51.890 | 0.441 |
| 6 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 5 | 1:52.235 | 0.786 |
| 7 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:52.251 | 0.802 |
| 8 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:52.330 | 0.881 |
| 9 | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:52.403 | 0.954 |
| 10 | 62 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 1:52.521 | 1.072 |
| 11 | 168 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:52.608 | 1.159 |
| 12 | 39 | |
Lewis BROWN | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:52.669 | 1.220 |
| 13 | 71 |  |
Ben BARGWANNA | Team Clairet Sport – Burson Auto Parts Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 1:52.839 | 1.390 |
| 14 | 23 | |
Isaac SMITH | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 1:52.955 | 1.506 |
| 15 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:53.022 | 1.573 |
| 16 | 11 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:53.205 | 1.756 |
| 17 | 22 | |
Kobe PAUWELS | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:53.551 | 2.102 |
| 18 | 111 | |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 1:53.706 | 2.257 |
| 19 | 48 | |
Mikael KARLSSON | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 1:53.916 | 2.467 |
| 20 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | RC2 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:54.158 | 2.709 |
| 21 | 12 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | RC2 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:54.383 | 2.934 |