In a grey and chilly morning on the shores of the North Sea, action at Zandvoort started with the free practice session, which ran smoothly and saw local hero Jaap Van Lagen, who replaces Jean-Karl Vernay at the Leopard Lukoil Team Audi RS3 LMS, posting the best time (1.45.226) quite early into the session.
The Dutchman stole P1 from Mikel Azcona (PCR Sport Cupra), who led in the initial stages and finished 0.361 seconds off the top. Both, van Lagen and Azcona were able to lap under the previous TCR Record of 1:45.8. Cedric Piro (Autodis Racing Honda Civic) was the third driver to drive under the 1:46 mark, while Kris Richard (Target competition Hyundai i30N) was fourth-fastest and Maxime Potty (Comtoyou Racing Volkswagen Golf) completed a Top-5 that included five different car brands.
Julien Briché put the Peugeot 308 in eight at his very debut with the French car in the series, ahead of some top stars: points leader Dušan Borković (9^th), Josh Files (10^th) and Attila Tassi (13^th), who received a black-and-white flag for not respecting track limits at Turn 13.
The second free practice session is scheduled at 13:20 and Qualifying will take place at 15:45.