Mikel Azcona sets early pace in opening Misano practice

Mikel Azcona laid down an early marker at the Misano World Circuit by topping the timesheets in the opening free practice session of the FIA TCR World Tour weekend, leading the BRC Hyundai charge in a closely contested 30‑minute run.

The Spaniard’s best lap of 1:41.358, set with just under ten minutes remaining, proved enough to secure first place after a session in which the leading position changed hands several times.

Azcona’s benchmark edged out ALM Motorsport driver Ruben Volt, who enjoyed a strong outing aboard his Honda and ended the session second overall.

Volt had briefly held the top spot midway through practice after displacing Aurélien Comte, with the CUPRA driver eventually classified third.

A notable feature of the session was the spread of manufacturers at the sharp end of the field. Four different marques occupied the top four positions, with Santiago Urrutia closing out the leading quartet as the best‑placed driver of the new Geely Preface TCR cars.

Urrutia finished just two‑tenths of a second adrift of Azcona’s pace, signalling a promising start for the Geely package on its début.

Behind the leading four, last season’s title protagonists Teddy Clairet and Jenson Brickley continued to demonstrate their competitiveness by finishing fifth and sixth respectively.

Separated by less than a tenth of a second, both drivers immediately placed themselves within the leading group.

Just behind them, Yann Ehrlacher took seventh for Geely Cyan Racing in the Geely Preface, while Julien Briché was the next of the Hyundai runners in eighth after a solid run to within six‑tenths of the fastest time.

Norbert Michelisz and Thed Björk completed the top ten, giving BRC Hyundai and Geely Cyan Racing additional representation near the front of an already tightly packed order.

The 30‑minute session was not without interruption. The session was briefly neutralised under Full Course Caution when Viktor Andersson stopped on circuit at Turn 3 with a transmission issue in his Monlau Motorsport CUPRA. The interruption curtailed running for several drivers, and Andersson was one of two competitors who failed to set a timed lap. The other was BRC Hyundai’s Gabriele Covini, who did not record a representative time after multiple track‑limits infringements.

With the opening practice complete and the competitive order already tightly packed, attention now turns to the second free practice session, scheduled to begin later in the afternoon at 17:15 CEST (16:15 BST).

Free practice 1 result

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	196		Mikel AZCONA	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	10	1:41.358	–
2	27		Ruben VOLT	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	13	1:41.386	0.028
3	107		Aurélien COMTE	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	11	1:41.449	0.091
4	181		Santiago URRUTIA	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	12	1:41.582	0.224
5	120		Teddy CLAIRET	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	13	1:41.625	0.267
6	246		Jenson BRICKLEY	ALM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	1:41.644	0.286
7	168		Yann EHRLACHER	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	11	1:41.708	0.350
8	24		Julien BRICHÉ	JSB Compétition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	11	1:41.983	0.625
9	105		Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N EV TCR	12	1:42.182	0.824
10	111		Thed BJÖRK	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	10	1:42.523	1.165
11	169		Jean-Karl VERNAY	SP Compétition	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	13	1:42.540	1.182
12	81		Damiano REDUZZI	Trico WRT	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	12	1:43.130	1.772
13	72		Ramiro ZAGO	MM Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	12	1:43.243	1.885
14	186		Esteban GUERRIERI	GOAT Racing	Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR	10	1:43.335	1.977
15	145		Raphaël FOURNIER	JSB Compétition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	11	1:43.902	2.544
16	155		MA Qing Hua	Geely Cyan Racing	Geely Preface TCR	12	1:54.756	13.398
17	12		Gabriele COVINI	BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	12	No time	N/A
18	10		Viktor ANDERSSON	Monlau Motorsport	CUPRA Leon VZ TCR	2	No time	N/A