MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson pipped Comtoyou Racing’s Kobe Pauwels to the top time in the opening practice session for TCR Europe at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya, with just 0.036 seconds separating the pair.
Andersson, who is seeking to conclude his début season in TCR racing with a first podium finish this weekend, posted his best lap of 1 minute 50.182 seconds just before the halfway stage of the session and was not beaten thereafter.
Pauwels had been the quickest driver in the four minutes preceding this, twice posting times good enough for the top, before settling on a 1:50.218.
Comtoyou drivers in fact completed the rest of the top five, with Nicola Baldan in third, four tenths of a second adrift, ahead of the other title challengers of John Filippi in fourth and Tom Coronel in fifth.
The only other driver within a second of the pace was series returnee Rubén Fernández Gil in sixth, 0.941 seconds adrift.
Once again all six Comtoyou Racing drivers featured inside the top ten, with Lewis Brown in seventh ahead of Viktor Davidovski in eighth.
The top ten was completed by Aggressive Team Italia’s Levente Losonczy and ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt, the latter having briefly twice held the top time in his Honda early on in the session.
Volcano Motorsport only had one driver post a time in first practice, that being Daniel Tkachenko, the son of the Team Manager. The Ukrainian was 11th, just under a second and a half slower than Andersson.
TCR returnee Pepe Oriola put his RC2 Audi in 12th, but more than two seconds off the pace, ahead of Mauro Guastamacchia in 13th, the team owner-come-racer having only his second TCR outing in three years.
Volcano Motorsport are running a car for TCR Italy regular Horia-Traian Chirigut this weekend, but the Romanian failed to post a time.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 14:16 CEST (13:16 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 1:50.182 | – |
| 2 | 22 |  |
Kobe PAUWELS | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:50.218 | 0.036 |
| 3 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:50.598 | 0.416 |
| 4 | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:50.697 | 0.515 |
| 5 | 34 | |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:50.971 | 0.789 |
| 6 | 12 |  |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | RC2 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:51.123 | 0.941 |
| 7 | 39 |  |
Lewis BROWN | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:51.251 | 1.069 |
| 8 | 11 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:51.295 | 1.113 |
| 9 | 264 |  |
Levente LOSONCZY | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:51.461 | 1.279 |
| 10 | 127 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 1:51.589 | 1.407 |
| 11 | 7 |  |
Daniel TKACHENKO | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:51.618 | 1.436 |
| 12 | 74 | |
Pepe ORIOLA | RC2 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | 1:52.576 | 2.394 |
| 13 | 293 | |
Mauro GUASTAMACCHIA | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 1:53.893 | 3.711 |
| 14 | 33 |  |
Horia-Traian CHIRIGUT | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 0 | No time | N/A |