The Volcano Motorsport CUPRA Leon Competición of Isidro Callejas was fastest in today’s test session at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve – the first time the majority of the TCR Europe ‘class of 2022’ have had the opportunity of being on track together.

The first driver to break the two-minute lap time barrier was Tom Coronel in a Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS. The timesheet was then headed in turn by Pepe Oriola (Brutal Fish Racing Honda Civic Type-R) and Josh Files (Target Competition Hyundai Elantra N) before the session was red-flagged with around twenty-five minutes of the one-hour test remaining.

The dubious honour of causing the first stoppage of the season went to Luís Cidade in the Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou Audi RS 3 LMS. The Portuguese driver went off in sector 2 and it took a little over twelve minutes to recover the car back to the pits. The Audi itself, however, was undamaged and Cidade was able to rejoin the session once his mechanics had checked the car over.

The final thirteen minutes of the session then saw Jack Young go fastest in one of the three Halder Motorsport Honda cars, before Callejas grabbed the quickest time in the dying moments. Oriola finished up in P2 with Young third fastest, Coronel fourth and Files fifth. The top seven cars were covered by a little over seven-tenths of a second.

TCR Europe Test Session 1

1. Isidro Callejas (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición)   1:52.999

2. Pepe Oriola (Brutal Fish Racing, Honda Civic Type-R)   1:53.020

3. Jack Young (Halder Motorsport, Honda Civic Type-R)   1:53.094

4. Tom Coronel (Comtoyou Racing, Audi RS 3 LMS II)   1:53.145

5. Josh Files (Target Competition, Hyundai Elantra N)   1:53.355

6. Klim Gavrilov (Volcano Motorsport, CUPRA Leon Competición)   1:53.376

Isidro Callejas (fastest): “It may be just a test but for me these things are really important because I used to think a lot about my times last year and so it’s good to start the season like this. We have been making a lot of work on setting the car up really well and I think the results show it. I’m very happy and I’m also happy for my engineer, but let’s see what will happen tomorrow.”

The second one-hour test session takes place tomorrow at 12.00 local time (13.00 CEST)