Photo: TCR Media

Jordi Gené leads Craft-Bamboo Lukoil 1-2 in Thailand practice

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Jordi Gené topped the Friday testing session in Buriram, Thailand. The Craft-Bamboo Lukoil driver came home ahead of team-mate Pepe Oriola, with Gianni Morbidelli in third in his WestCoast Racing Honda Civic.

Oriola actually led for most of the session, until Gené knocked him off the lead with fifteen minutes to go. Morbidelli came home ahead of team-mates René Munnich and Kevin Gleason, the WestCoast trio setting the fastest time at the very end of the session.

Sergey Afanasyev was therefore relegated in sixth ahead of leading Target Competition driver Loris Hezemans, who came home just ahead of team-mate Stefano Comini, the championship leader fighting against understeer as well as an injured knee.

Mikhail Grachev and Lorenzo Veglia completed the top ten, with the Russian’s Volkswagen Golf a blink of an eye quicker than his team-mate’s, who improved his time just under the flag.

Further down the order Alain Menu showed remarkable progress in his Top Run Subaru Impreza STi, finishing 12th just behind Tomas Engstrom’s Golf and ahead of Hugo Valente’s Opel Astra.

Munkong Sathienthirakul was the fastest TCR Asia entrant, and actually wasn’t too far from his International Series Craft-Bamboo Lukoil team-mates until late in the session. Meanwhile Robb Holland continued to struggle in the FRD Racing Ford Focus, more than two seconds off the pace.

The only major incident in the two-hour session was Douglas Khoo beaching is SEAT in the gravel between Turns 5 and 6, but the TCR Asia Series driver was pushed out of the gravel and allowed to get back to the pits. Hugo Valente also had a minor off at Turn 12, the last corner.

Action will resume tomorrow at 9.00 local time with Free Practice 1.