Menu quickest in FP1 as MacDowall crashes out

Alain Menu led the way in the first free practice session at the Salzburgring, whilst Alex MacDowall was the fastest independent driver as he crashed out in the final moments of the session.

The top position was alternating between the three works Chevrolets for the first ten minutes of the session, with Menu first to set the benchmark, before Huff was the first to improve on Menu’s time followed shortly by Muller.

However, during the last 20 minutes it was Menu who went on to set a string of fastest laps to end the session on top with a time of 1:27.008.

Yvan Muller finished as closest to the Swiss driver, just 0.077 down with Rob Huff less than half a second adrift.

Tom Coronel was fourth fastest in the ROAL Motorsport BMW 320 TC, with Alex MacDowall the leading independent driver in fifth.

The 21-year-old was caught out in the last two minutes of the session, heading into Turn 5 following team-mate Pasquale Di Sabatino. Di Sabatino locked up and slowed down mid-corner, with MacDowall going left in avoidance and subsequently off the track and slammed into the tyre barrier, bringing out the red flag for the second time.

The first red flag had come after 21 minutes of running, when Stefano D’Aste in the Wiechers-Sport BMW slid into the gravel trap at Turn 11, making just light contact with the tyre barrier.

Aleksei Dudukalo was the fastest of the SEAT drivers in sixth, whilst his Lukoil Racing team-mate Gabriele Tarquini was down in 20th place, 2.4 seconds off the pace of Menu.

The next free practice session is at 11:45 CET.