Photo: TCR Media

Pepe Oriola leads charging Hondas in Imola Free Practice 1

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Pepe Oriola led the way in the first segment of free practice at Imola, Italy. The Spaniard moved up in the lead towards the end of the session, breaking the 1:53 barrier in his Craft-Bamboo Lukoil SEAT.

Behind the Spaniard were four Honda Civic TCRs, with Gianni Morbidelli leading WestCoast Racing team-mates Alain Menu and Mikhail Grachev, with Jordi Oriola completing the top five on his debut at the wheel of the Civic for Target Competition. The young Spaniard had actually battled it out with Morbidelli for the lead until midway through the session, when he hit a bollard on the inside of Acque Minerali and had to stop for checks.

Mat’o Homola finished sixth in the B3 Racing SEAT, ahead of series returnee Jordi Gené, with the Spaniard also at the sharp end of the standings in the first part of the session in the Liqui Moly Team Engstler Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

James Nash was eighth for Craft-Bamboo Lukoil, with 2015 champion Stefano Comini finishing ninth in the Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golf. The Swiss spent a lot of time in the pits in the early stages of the session, but finally made it into the top ten in the last five minutes. Davit Kajaia completed the top ten in the Liqui Moly Team Engstler Golf GTI TCR.

Spa-Francorchamps race winner Jean-Karl Vernay went no further than 12th, while Dusan Borkovic suffered from a failure on his B3 Racing SEAT and stopped on track. A number of warnings were issued for track limits infringements, including Pepe Oriola, Mikhail Grachev and James Nash.

The second free practice session will follow imminently.