Pepe Oriola tops red flagged Free Practice 1 in Bahrain
Pepe Oriola was fastest in Free Practice 1 in Bahrain, the Craft-Bamboo Lukoil driver coming home ahead of Gianni Morbidelli and Aku Pellinen, both driving a WestCoast Racing Honda Civic TCR.
The session had started with the drivers struggling to find grip on the green track, also due to overnight rain which made the track even more slippery. As a result, it took some time until B3 Racing drivers Dusan Borkovic and Mat’O Homola posted a significant lap time.
With ten minutes to go it was time for Morbidelli to shine, the former Grand Prix driver breaking the 2’14 barrier first. It was around this time that Jordi Oriola stalled his Opel Astra TCR on the track, only to rejoin very slowly. The result was a red flag, which left the drivers with only four minutes of free practice.
That was enough not only for Morbidelli to improve on his lap time, but also for team-mate Aku Pellinen to get within three tenths off his team-mate and, more importantly, for Pepe Oriola to post a lap time of 2:13.069, which was unbeatable.
Dusan Borkovic stayed in fourth, ahead of team-mate Homola and SEAT stable-mate Sergey Afanasiev. The fastest Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR was in seventh, with Davit Kajaia coming home ahead of Craft-Bamboo Lukoil’s James Nash. Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay took another Golf in the top ten with ninth, while Attila Tassi completed the top ten for B3 Racing.
After a difficult session, reigning champion Stefano Comini went no further than 13th in the session, while the fastest Opel Astra was Andrea Belicchi’s, more than four seconds off the pace. Luigi Ferrara was 14th in his Subaru, just between Comini and Belicchi. Michela Cerruti finished 16th in the sole Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR on track, over five seconds off the pace.
Action resumes at 16.50 local time for Free Practice 2.
