TCR UK’s three official Media Day test sessions provided an indication of how close the new-for-2018 category could be, with a hat-trick of driver and car combinations heading each session.
Finlay Crocker put his newly-built Honda Civic Type R FK8 atop the timesheets in a damp morning outing, clocking a best time of 1:03.314, narrowly edging out the Laser Tools Racing pairing of Aiden Moffat and Derek Palmer Jnr by a mere seventh thousandths of a second in the dying embers of the session.
Moffat took full advantage of a drying track to record a 59.187 in his Alfa Romeo Guilietta TCR ahead of Pyro Motorsport’s Ollie Taylor – who set the pace during the championships first official test at the ‘Home of British Motorsport’ earlier this month [6th March] – and the guest entry of Andreas Backman in the WestCoast Racing-run Volkswagen Golf GTi.
Wet conditions plagued the final session of the day, the best time a 1:04.848 set by Taylor’s Honda Civic.
All three sessions also enabled TCR newcomers Lewis Kent, Howard Fuller, Stewart Lines and Carl Swift to get to grips with their new machinery – a Hyundai i30 N, Honda Civic and pair of CUPRAs respectively.
TCR BoP (Balance of Performance) test driver Dan Lloyd is also tipped to challenge for victories this weekend, though a lack of working transponder prevented an accurate time from being recorded, though TouringCars.net understands at one stage on a drying circuit his lap times narrowly edged Moffat’s.
Darelle Wilson (Vauxhall Astra) and Olli Kangas (CUPRA) are set to enter the fray tomorrow [31st March] after sitting out Friday’s tests.
The championship resumes with a Warm-Up and Free Practice ahead of Qualifying tomorrow.