Monlau Motorsport’s Viktor Andersson topped the times in the opening TCR Europe practice session of the weekend at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, lapping over four tenths of a second faster than PMA Motorsport’s Nicola Baldan.
CUPRA drivers were consistently quick in the half-hour session in the dry, with Andersson’s team-mate Adam Shepherd, along with Herrero Racing duo Matéo Herrero and Victor Weyrich, also enjoying times at the top.
However, it was Swede Andersson who prevailed, posting a time of 2 minutes 11.738 seconds near the end of the session to go quickest, comfortably clear of the Audi of Baldan.
Herrero Racing duo Weyrich and Herrero were nonetheless third and fourth fastest respectively, despite Herrero stopping at Turn 2 with slightly more than ten minutes to go, whilst fifth-placed Shepherd was the last of the drivers within a second of his team-mates pace, the top five occupied by four CUPRAs.
Solite Indigo Racing’s Junui Park was the leading Hyundai driver in sixth, ahead of the top Honda of ALM Motorsport’s Mike Halder in seventh.
BRC Racing’s Alex Ley, racing a new Hyundai after crashing last time out at Spa, was eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by Indigo Racing’s Junesung Park and SP Compétition’s Mikhail Simonov.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 15:40 CEST (14:40 BST).
Session result
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 11 | 2:11.738 | – |
| 2 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 2:12.180 | 0.442 |
| 3 | 74 |  |
Victor WEYRICH | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 11 | 2:12.217 | 0.479 |
| 4 | 29 | |
Matéo HERRERO | Herrero Racing | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 6 | 2:12.274 | 0.536 |
| 5 | 117 |  |
Adam SHEPHERD | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 12 | 2:12.586 | 0.848 |
| 6 | 87 |  |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:13.047 | 1.309 |
| 7 | 7 |  |
Mike HALDER | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 9 | 2:13.234 | 1.496 |
| 8 | 76 | |
Alex LEY | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 2:13.316 | 1.578 |
| 9 | 97 | |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:13.385 | 1.647 |
| 10 | 112 |  |
Mikhail SIMONOV | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 2:13.392 | 1.654 |
| 11 | 85 |  |
Tiago PERNÍA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 2:13.413 | 1.675 |
| 12 | 111 | |
Marco BUTTI | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 11 | 2:13.529 | 1.791 |
| 13 | 73 |  |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 2:13.612 | 1.874 |
| 14 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 2:13.663 | 1.925 |
| 15 | 9 | |
Tom CHIAPPE | SP Compétition | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 2:13.729 | 1.991 |
| 16 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 2:13.753 | 2.015 |
| 17 | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 2:13.922 | 2.184 |
| 18 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 2:14.215 | 2.477 |
| 19 | 12 | |
Gabriele COVINI | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 2:14.448 | 2.710 |
| 20 | 18 |  |
Michael MARKUSSEN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 2:14.480 | 2.742 |
| 21 | 37 |  |
Victor CHAN Chun Leung | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 2:14.531 | 2.793 |
| 22 | 69 |  |
Max HART | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 2:14.591 | 2.853 |
| 23 | 22 | |
Giacomo PRANDELLI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 2:14.919 | 3.181 |
| 24 | 72 | |
Sandro PELATTI | PMA Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 10 | 2:17.936 | 6.198 |