MM Motorsport’s Jacopo Cimenes topped the times on his TCR Europe début in Friday’s free practice sessions in Misano, beating fellow Honda driver Ruben Volt by just under three tenths of a second.
The 19-year-old topped the times in the Friday evening second practice session, having earlier been a competitive fourth overall on his first appearance in the series.
It did not take Cimenes long to reach the top of the times, going quickest six minutes in on his first true flying lap, before posting an even better time, and ultimately the fastest of the session, on his next lap with a time of 1 minute 42.224 seconds.
That ended up being the quickest time of the day, usurping MM Motorsport team-mate Marco Butti’s effort of 1:42.610 set in the earlier session.
ALM Motorsport’s Volt was second quickest, making it a Hona 1-2 at the top of the times in the 30-degree heat, 0.294 seconds adrift.
Monlau Motorsport’s Jenson Brickley was third quickest in second practice, and thus third overall for the day, in the fastest of the CUPRAs.
Felipe Fernández had been second in FP1, but despite going quicker in FP2 the GOAT Racing driver ended up fourth overall.
Eric Gené was fifth in FP2 in his CUPRA, ahead of MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson in sixth in the field’s sole Lynk & Co.
The Audi drivers seemed to struggle somewhat for pace – in first practice Teddy Clairet was the fastest of the RS3 drivers in eighth, whilst in FP2 none made it into the top ten, with Teddy Clairet once again the quickest in 11th.
Reigning TCR Italy champion Nicolas Taylor was only 15th, having missed half the second session when his car stopped at Turn 7. It followed a challenging first session when he stopped with damaged front-left suspension, whilst his PMA Motorsport team-mate Sandro Pelatti had a mechanical issue in the opening session.
Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 10:55 CEST (09:55 BST) on Saturday morning.
Free practice 1 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 111 |  |
Marco BUTTI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 6 | 1:42.610 | – |
| 2 | 19 |  |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:43.002 | 0.392 |
| 3 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:43.056 | 0.446 |
| 4 | 82 | |
Jacopo CIMENES | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:43.102 | 0.492 |
| 5 | 344 | |
Michele IMBERTI | Kombat Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:43.536 | 0.926 |
| 6 | 28 | |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:43.659 | 1.049 |
| 7 | 246 |  |
Jenson BRICKLEY | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 8 | 1:43.822 | 1.212 |
| 8 | 20 |  |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 1:43.974 | 1.364 |
| 9 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 1:44.067 | 1.457 |
| 10 | 21 | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | 1:44.070 | 1.460 |
| 11 | 87 |  |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:44.127 | 1.517 |
| 12 | 97 | |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:44.271 | 1.661 |
| 13 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 8 | 1:44.274 | 1.664 |
| 14 | 80 | |
Filippo BARBERI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | 1:44.400 | 1.790 |
| 15 | 69 |  |
Max HART | Target Srl | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:44.718 | 2.108 |
| 16 | 13 |  |
Vedat Ali Dalokay | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:45.180 | 2.570 |
| 17 | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:45.536 | 2.926 |
| 18 | 45 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 4 | 1:49.084 | 6.474 |
| 19 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 0 | No time | N/A |
| 20 | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 0 | No time | N/A |
Free practice 2 results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 82 | |
Jacopo CIMENES | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:42.224 | – |
| 2 | 27 | |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 1:42.518 | 0.294 |
| 3 | 246 | |
Jenson BRICKLEY | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 14 | 1:42.568 | 0.344 |
| 4 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 1:42.583 | 0.359 |
| 5 | 28 | |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 12 | 1:43.023 | 0.799 |
| 6 | 10 | |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | 1:43.162 | 0.938 |
| 7 | 344 | |
Michele IMBERTI | Kombat Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:43.211 | 0.987 |
| 8 | 97 | |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:43.283 | 1.059 |
| 9 | 87 | |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:43.591 | 1.367 |
| 10 | 69 | |
Max HART | Target Srl | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:43.644 | 1.420 |
| 11 | 20 | |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:43.648 | 1.424 |
| 12 | 21 | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:43.758 | 1.534 |
| 13 | 8 | |
Nicola BALDAN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 9 | 1:43.823 | 1.599 |
| 14 | 111 | |
Marco BUTTI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 1:44.058 | 1.834 |
| 15 | 17 | |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 6 | 1:44.091 | 1.867 |
| 16 | 80 | |
Filippo BARBERI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:44.130 | 1.906 |
| 17 | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:44.326 | 2.102 |
| 18 | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:44.491 | 2.267 |
| 19 | 13 | |
Vedat Ali Dalokay | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:44.625 | 2.401 |
| 20 | 45 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:44.850 | 2.626 |