Eric Gené and team-mate Jenson Brickley left it to the final moments of the first practice session at Portimão to go fastest of all, putting their two CUPRA Leon VZ TCRs ahead of Teddy Clairet’s Audi RS 3 LMS.

Gené’s time of 1:51.686 was just over a quarter of a second faster than his new team-mate’s, while Clairet and his brother Jimmy were the two best-placed Audis in the 30-minute session, with Jimmy setting the fifth fastest time in the session.

Splitting the two Clairet brothers was the leading Fernández brother - with the Honda Civic Type R of Felipe Fernández fourth quickest, just over three-tenths off of Gené’s pace.

Nicola Baldan, driving with new-to-TCR Europe team AIKOA Racing was sixth, just ahead of fellow Italian Marco Butti’s MM Motorsport Honda, with ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt, Solite Indigo Racing’s Junui Park, and PMA Motorsport’s Felice Jelmini rounding out the top ten, all within a second of the fastest time.

The next free practice session gets underway at 15:26 local time.