Wild card Jenson Brickley was fastest of all in the first free practice session at Valencia in his Jenson Brickley Racing-run CUPRA Leon VZ TCR, just four-hundredths of a second ahead of championship leader Franco Girolami.

Brickley, running with 20kg of new entry ballast, took over at the top from Girolami with half the session to go, and held on to the top spot to the end in the first 30-minute practice of the day.

GIrolami, who is chasing is second TCR Europe series title this weekend and is carrying the maximum possible 40kg of compensation weight following his high-points performance at Brno, was right at the sharp end in his Monlau Motorsport CUPRA.

Ruben Volt was the best-placed of the Hondas in third, with the ALM Motorsport driver just two-tenths of a second away from Brickley’s time, with the rival GOAT Racing Honda Civic Type of Rubén Fernández just behind.

Jimmy Clairet, making his return to the series in a Baldan Group by Comtoyou-run CUPRA rounded out the top five.

Of the other title contenders, Ignacio Montenegro was seventh fastest in his ALM Motorsport Honda, while Aurélien Comte was 18th and last, after missing the first half of the session, with his SP Compétition team working to resolve an issue with the engine.

The second practice session gets underway at 16:05 CEST.