Dan Lloyd fastest in red-flagged second test at the Salzburgring

Dan Lloyd led an all Craft-Bamboo Racing SEAT top three in the one hour second test session at the Salzburgring on Friday, finishing just under five-hundredths of a second ahead of Pepe Oriola, while the session was red flagged with 20 minutes to go after a crash for M1RA’s Attila Tassi.

The Hungarian was one of three TCR International Series to run into trouble during the second test, with Mat’o Homola stopping on track at Turn 5 in his DG Sport Compétition Opel Astra early on soon after setting a time good enough for ninth.

Soon after, championship leader Jean-Karl Vernay crashed out at Turn 10 in his Team WRT Volkswagen Golf, and was forced to miss the rest of the session.

Pepe Oriola was at this point on top of the time sheets, as the three Craft-Bamboo SEATs worked together to improve their lap times.

Dan Lloyd then went fastest, shortly before Attila Tassi crashed out his M1RA Honda Civic TCR at Turn 9, with the Honda taking heavy damage to the front and rear of the car.

Tassi is reported as OK but has been sent to the medical centre by the race director for checks due to the nature of the accident.

Lloyd finished the session fastest ahead of Oriola and James Nash, with Rob Huff the top non-SEAT in the Team WRT Volkswagen in fourth, just over a half a second back.

Milovan Vesnic was the best-placed Audi on his 2017 TCR debut in fifth, ahead of the Kissling Motorsport Opel Astra of local driver Thomas Jäger.

Attila Tassi was seventh fastest before his crash, with Davit Kajaia eighth in the GE-Force Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

Mat’o Homola’s early lap kept him ninth fastest, while Comtoyou Racing Audi driver Frédéric Vervisch completed the top ten.

Roberto Colciago was just outside the top ten in 11th in the second M1RA Honda, with two-time champion Stefano Comini 14th in his Audi RS 3 LMS.

Jean-Karl Vernay’s only lap saw him classified in 20th position, one ahead of WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli, who also set only one timed lap in his Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.

The Honda of Jens Reno Moller and the Subaru of Luigi Ferrara sat out the second session.

The next session is Free Practice 1 at 10:00 CET on Saturday.