Photo: TCR Media

James Nash leads the way then crashes out in Friday afternoon’s Thailand test

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Craft-Bamboo Racing SEAT driver James Nash set the fastest lap of the afternoon in the four hour-long private test session at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, with WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli his closest competitor in the Honda Civic, but Nash was also the cause of the only red flag of the day, crashing out with five minutes remaining at Turn 3, bringing an early close to the day.

The test was split into four segments, with WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli leading all three of the sessions in which he took part, but it was James Nash in his SEAT León TCR who set the fastest time overall in the third session, the only driver to set a time in the 1:43s.

WestCoast Racing opted to sit out the third session, with Craft-Bamboo Racing skipping the second, while drivers’ championship leaders Leopard Racing took part in all four with drivers Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay.

Rafaël Galliana had a tough return to the TCR International Series, with the WestCoast Racing substitute driver experiencing punctures in both of the two sessions, parts two and four, in which he took part. This limited the Frenchman’s track time as he was forced to slowly bring back the team’s Honda Civic TCR to the pits at a snail’s pace.

The new-build Subaru WRX STi TCR of Luigi Ferrara took part in the first practice session only, setting respectable times for a new car in the 1:49s, but the Top Run Motorsport team shut the garage to work on the car further for the final three hours of the test day.

Nash’s best time was just under a tenth of a second faster than Morbidelli’s which was set in the final hour at dusk, with Jean-Karl Vernay third fastest in the Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

Championship leader Stefano Comini was fourth fastest in his Leopard Volkswagen, with Mat’o Homola the fastest of the B3 Racing SEAT drivers in fifth.

Just outside the top ten in 11th was the fastest of the guest Thai drivers also competing in the TCR Thailand class this weekend, with Narasak Ittiritpong just 1.2 seconds from the overall pace in his Vattana Motorsport Honda Civic TCR.

Free Practice 1 is up next at 11:00 local time on Saturday.