Photo: TCR Media

Nicki Thiim again on top after second Portuguese practice session

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Danish driver Nicki Thiim was again fastest in the second and final practice session at the Algarve circuit for Liqui Moly Team Engstler in the Audi TT, finishing ahead of Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s Pepe Oriola and Sergey Afanasyev.

Thiim was six-tenths of a second ahead of Oriola’s SEAT León Racer, with Afanasyev a further tenth of a second back in the sister SEAT.

Lorenzo Veglia was fourth fastest in the Engstler-run SEAT, with Jordi Gené the third best placed of Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s SEATs in fifth, and series points leader Stefano Comini in sixth for Target Competition.

Gianni Morbidelli was the fastest of the WestCoast Racing Hondas in eighth overall, 1.9 seconds off of Thiim’s pace.

Michel Nykjaer’s finished ninth, but stopped out on track half way through the session with broken front-left suspension on his Target Competition SEAT León Racer.

Campos Racing’s sole entry this weekend, Oscar Nogués, joined the session late, but after hitting the kerbs too hard, suffered a front-right puncture on his Opel Astra OPC and failed to complete a timed lap.

Liqui Moly Team Engstler had a mixed session, with Thiim and Veglia first and fourth, but with the engine problem that stopped Kelvin van der Linde in FP1 spilling over into FP2, and with Mikhail Grachev still awaiting the arrival of a spare SEAT León Racer.

Both Igor Skuz of WestCoast Racing and Target Competition’s Andrea Belicchi were warned for exceeding the track limits, with Craft-Bamboo’s Jordi Gené and WestCoast’s Kevin Gleason summoned to the stewards after the session.

Next up is qualifying at 14:00 WEST / 15:00 CET.