Eric Gené set the pace in the first TCR Europe practice session of the season at the Autódromo do Algarve in Portugal, lapping a quarter of a second faster than Monlau Motorsport team-mate Jenson Brickley.
Gené put in the best lap of the session late on at Portimão, posting a lap of 1 minute 51.686 seconds to edge out Brickley and Teddy Clairet’s Audi.
Felipe Fernández, the brother of series promoter Rubén, was the best of the Hondas in fourth, whilst the second Team Clairet Audi of Jimmy Clairet was fifth.
Nicola Baldan put his Audi in sixth, ahead of the Honda Civics of MM Motorsport’s Marco Butti in seventh and ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt in eighth, whilst ninth-placed Junui Park was the best Hyundai driver and the only other person to be within a second of the pace.
PMA Motorsport’s Felice Jelmini completed the top ten in his Audi.
All of the 21 drivers racing this weekend took part in the session, with Levente Losonczy joining ALM Motorsport for the second event of the season at Spa-Francorchamps onwards.
Second practice takes place at 15:26 WEST (15:26 BST, 16:26 CEST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 28 |  |
Eric GENÉ Casanovas | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:51.686 | – |
| 2 | 246 |  |
Jenson BRICKLEY | Monlau Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 9 | 1:51.943 | 0.257 |
| 3 | 20 |  |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 1:51.952 | 0.266 |
| 4 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 1:52.007 | 0.321 |
| 5 | 21 | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:52.394 | 0.708 |
| 6 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 1:52.473 | 0.787 |
| 7 | 111 | |
Marco BUTTI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 1:52.496 | 0.810 |
| 8 | 27 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 11 | 1:52.552 | 0.866 |
| 9 | 87 |  |
Junui PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 1:52.660 | 0.974 |
| 10 | 44 | |
Felice JELMINI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:52.753 | 1.067 |
| 11 | 33 | |
Santiago CONCEPCIÓN | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:52.791 | 1.105 |
| 12 | 17 |  |
Nicolas TAYLOR | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:52.862 | 1.176 |
| 13 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 12 | 1:52.894 | 1.208 |
| 14 | 69 |  |
Max HART | Target Srl | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:53.251 | 1.565 |
| 15 | 4 | |
Julien BRICHÉ | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:53.317 | 1.631 |
| 16 | 97 | |
Junesung PARK | Solite Indigo Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:53.333 | 1.647 |
| 17 | 80 | |
Filippo BARBERI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | 1:53.623 | 1.937 |
| 18 | 45 | |
Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 1:53.837 | 2.151 |
| 19 | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 15 | 1:53.922 | 2.236 |
| 20 | 98 | |
Pierre-Arnaud NAVARRO | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 1:55.546 | 3.860 |
| 21 | 6 | |
Jean-Laurent NAVARRO | JSB Compétition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:56.021 | 4.335 |