Stefano Comini leads close second practice, with 19 cars within a second at Salzburg

Comtoyou Racing’s Stefano Comini was fastest in the second and final practice session at the Salzburgring, leading the three Craft-Bamboo SEATs in his Audi RS 3, with the top 19 all under a second of the Swiss driver’s time.

Comini’s best lap came shortly after the half-way mark in his Audi, displacing Pepe Oriola’s SEAT by just 14-thousandths of a second.

Behind the SEATs was championship leader Jean-Karl Vernay, who missed the first half of the session due to a late set-up change on his Team WRT Volkswagen Golf, with Roberto Colciago the best of the Hondas in sixth position.

Gianni Morbidelli was seventh in his WestCoast Racing Volkswagen, with Attila Tassi picking up more speed in his brand new Honda, eighth quickest ahead of the two Scandinavian drivers Jens Reno Moller and Stial Paulsen.

There were no serious incidents in the session, though Stian Paulsen ran off in his SEAT León TCR at Turn 9 in the final seconds, making light contact with the barrier, with yellow flags deployed.

The best-placed Opel was that of Mat’o Homola, though the Slovakian’s session ended early, stopping at the exit for Turn 1 with a broken driveshaft, while other front-runners out of place included Comtyou’s Frédéric Vervisch in 13th and Team WRT’s Rob Huff in 18th.

The top 19 cars were all separated by less than a second, with the only outliers the two Italian drivers Enrico Bettera in the Pit Lane Competizione Audi, two seconds off, and the Subaru of Luigi Ferrara, 2.5 down.

Duncan Ende missed the session as the team work to repair his SEAT León which was damaged in the first practice, while Zengõ Motorsport have withdrawn Ferenc Ficza’s car after his crash in FP1.

Qualifying is next and begins at 15:00 CET.