With a last lap, Daniel Lloyd leapt on top of the timesheet of the first practice at Spa-Francorchamps. For most of the 30-minute session, the Brutal Fish Racing’s driver was placed around the mid-field, then he completed a lap of 2:31.468 just under the chequered flag and demoted Andreas Bäckman to second.
Several drivers took turns in the first place, starting with Pepe Oriola who set a provisional fastest lap of 2:33.393 that was soon beaten by Teddy Clairet’s 2:33.215 and then by Andreas Bäckman’s 2:33.002.
Then, Mehdi Bennani was the first one to break the 2:33 wall and improved the mark to 2:32.493, but again Bäckman was faster at 2:32.200 before being beaten by Sami Taoufik by five thousandths of a second.
In the wake of his Comtoyou Racing’s teammates, Nicolas Baert was the next to set the pace at 2:32.118, but soon afterwards Bäckman answered with an impressive 2:31.489 that looked set to remain the fastest for good. And instead, Lloyd improved it again by only 21 thousandths.
Behind Bäckman, there was a trio of Peugeot cars with Jimmy and Teddy Clairet third and fourth ahead of Julien Briché, all covered by 38 thousandths. The three Comtoyou Audi of Taoufik, Baert and Bennani filled the spots between sixth and eighth, while Oriola and John Filippi rounded off the top-ten.
On his second appearance in the championship, José Manuel Sapag was placed 11^th, and Nicola Baldan clocked an encouraging 13^th fastest lap on his first outing at the wheel of the CUPRA Leon Competición despite a trip over the gravel trap.
Some of the top drivers struggled with their pace: BRC Racing teammates Mat’o Homola and Dániel Nagy ranked 14^th and 15^th, while Tom Coronel and the current championship leader Mike Halder were 16^th and 17^th.
As for the 2018 champion Mikel Azcona, who returned to the European series with a Volcano Motorsport CUPRA, he missed the whole session due to a steering rack issue.
Lloyd commented: “I love this circuit and the car was good here last year. I think this is the strongest start we’ve had to a weekend all year. I don’t even mean the position or the result but how the car feels, so it’s a really positive start to the weekend. The results in Barcelona haven’t really affected my confidence - after all, there’s nothing wrong with my driving - I think we were just unlucky it was where we carried the weight. Everyone was super, super close in Barcelona, so the weight showed. Here in Spa, the gaps are so big because it’s such a challenging circuit and the weight doesn’t show as much. Now we’ll see what the weather does tomorrow.”
The second free practice will take place tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time (CEST).

Practice 1
2:31.468 – Daniel Lloyd (Brutal Fish Racing Team, Honda Civic Type R)
2:31.489 – Andreas Bäckman (Target Competition, Hyundai i30 N)
2:31.712 – Jimmy Clairet (Team Clairet Sport, Peugeot 308)
2:31.720 – Teddy Clairet (Team Clairet Sport, Peugeot 308)
2:31.750 – Julien Briché (JSB Compétition, Peugeot 308)