Aurélien Comte kept CUPRA on top of the times in both of the TCR Europe free practice sessions held on Friday at Vallelunga, as his closest challenge camge from Comtoyou Racing’s Nicola Baldan.
Comte had lapped the 4-kilometre circuit in 1 minute 39.975 seconds in the day’s opening session, which was just under a tenth clear of Monlau Motorsport’s Franco Girolami in a similarly-new CUPRA.
The Frenchman then went marginally quicker in the afternoon, with a lap of 1:39.842 at the very end of the session putting him a tenth and a half ahead of the Audi of Baldan.
In the morning, it was Ignacio Montenegro who was closest to the two CUPRAs, the young Argentine putting his Honda in third, three tenths adrift. Ultimately, the ALM Motorsport driver would end the day with the fifth quickest lap in the series.
Dušan Borković had been fourth in first practice, the GOAT Racing Honda driver then improving by three tenths to go third in the afternoon with his 1:40.032 effort, leaving the Serb with the third-best lap of the day overall.
Returning champion Girolami held on to the fourth best time of the day, ahead of Montenegro in fifth.
ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt was sixth in second practice, which also gave the young Estonian the sixth-best lap overall, six tenths off the pace.
Qualifying takes place later this evening at 18:45 CEST (17:45 BST).
Free practice 1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 7 |  |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:39.975 | – |
| 2 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 12 | 1:40.070 | 0.095 |
| 3 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 1:40.289 | 0.314 |
| 4 | 62 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:40.330 | 0.355 |
| 5 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Baldan Group by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 1:40.365 | 0.390 |
| 6 | 19 |  |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 1:40.523 | 0.548 |
| 7 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 1:40.644 | 0.669 |
| 8 | 11 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ GIL | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:40.734 | 0.759 |
| 9 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 1:40.859 | 0.884 |
| 10 | 64 |  |
Levente LOSONCZY | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:40.901 | 0.926 |
| 11 | 34 |  |
Giovanni SCAMARDI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:41.378 | 1.403 |
| 12 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 11 | 1:41.529 | 1.554 |
| 13 | 21 | |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |
Free practice 2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 7 | |
Aurélien COMTE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:39.842 | – |
| 2 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Baldan Group by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:40.000 | 0.158 |
| 3 | 62 | |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:40.032 | 0.190 |
| 4 | 23 | |
Ignacio MONTENEGRO | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 1:40.297 | 0.455 |
| 5 | 72 | |
Franco GIROLAMI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:40.468 | 0.626 |
| 6 | 27 | |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 1:40.484 | 0.642 |
| 7 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:40.685 | 0.843 |
| 8 | 64 | |
Levente LOSONCZY | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:40.806 | 0.964 |
| 9 | 11 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ GIL | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 1:41.240 | 1.398 |
| 10 | 10 | |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 1:41.313 | 1.471 |
| 11 | 110 | |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 12 | 1:41.364 | 1.522 |
| 12 | 34 | |
Giovanni SCAMARDI | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 13 | 1:41.413 | 1.571 |
| 13 | 21 | |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |