Victor Weyrich went under the qualifying lap record from 2020 at the Circuit Paul Ricard in the final practice session, with a time of 2:11.591 the fastest time a TCR car has ever set around the Le Castellet track.

The new tyre runs at the end of the session saw a number of improvements, but is was Weyrich who led the way in his Herrero Racing CUPRA, although just a tenth of a second covered the top three.

The French driver’s closest rival was Gabriele Covini, whose BRC Racing Team Hyundai was just 0.035 seconds behind, with Nicola Baldan’s PMA Motorspotrt Audi just a further three-hundreths of a second down.

Mike Halder was fourth quickest, despite carrying the maximum compensation weight in his ALM Motorsport Honda, while Alex Ley was just behind in fifth place in the second of BRC Racing Team’s Hyundais.

Weyrich was also the fastest of the new Tenerife Trophy competitors with his overall fastest time, while Covini’s second place meant he was quickest of the Youth Best competitors.

The next session is qualifying, which gets underway at 09:00 CEST tomorrow morning.