It was a foggy morning at Adria when the TCR Europe competitors hit the track for the first of two 30-minute Practice sessions.
Giacomo Altoè set the fastest lap of 1:19.851 at the wheel of his Target Competition Honda Civic. The Italian driver set the pace from the beginning, with a provisional fastest lap of 1:20.339. Halfway through the session he was demoted to second when Gabriele Tarquini’s Hyundai i30 N was clocked at 1:19.890, however Altoè was able to improve further beating Tarquini’s time by four hundredths of a second.
Altoè commented: “I’m really happy. The lap time was good and so it is the set up of the car. I’m confident, but it’s only free practice…”
Maxime Potty set the third fastest time of 1:20.229 in the WRT Volkswagen Golf. “I’m very pleased, the car is very well balanced and the track is beautiful. I like it,” said the young Belgian.
Altoè’s teammate Josh Files was fourth fastest (1:20.346), followed by the Team Novadriver Golf of Francisco Abreu (1:20.758). The Portuguese driver said: “I’m still learning the track and the tyres, but I feel good with the car and I am confident I can be faster.”
Antti Buri (LMS Racing) was the best of the Audi drivers in sixth position with a lap of 1:20768. “It’s better than yesterday, but I’m still too much behind. I have to think of trying something different, but there is not much time,” said the Finn.
Positions seven to ten were filled by Giovanni Altoè’s SEAT León (1:20.973 and fastest of the DSG cars), Luigi Ferrara’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta (1:20.974), Aurélien Comte’s Peugeot 308 (1:21.221) and Kevin Giacon’s Opel Astra (1:21.767).
The second Free Practice will start at 12:00 (live timing and streaming at www.europe.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.com)