Frédéric Vervisch leads first practice session at Dubai
Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch topped the first 30-minute free practice session at the Dubai Autodrome, after the Audi driver mounted a set of fresh tyres right at the end of the session to topple team-mate Denis Dupont’s SEAT León.
The Belgian was just 0.050 seconds clear of Denis Dupont, running in a new car after Vervisch’s usual race car, which itself was newly delivered in China last month, has been stopped at customs.
“It’s been a long time since we were P1 in a session, I think not since Monza when we had pole. I admit we had new tyres, so we don’t really know where we are, but I think we’ll have a better weekend,” said Vervisch.
Behind second-placed Dupont was Gabriele Tarquini in the BRC Hyundai i30 N TCR, ahead of team-mate Alain Menu.
Pepe Oriola was fifth fastest and the fastest of the Craft-Bamboo SEATs, with championship leader Jean-Karl Vernay eight-tenths off the pace in sixth in the Team WRT Volkswagen Golf.
Gianni Morbidelli was seventh in his WestCoast Racing Volkswagen, followed by James Nash’s SEAT, Benjamin Leuchter’s WestCoast Volkswagen, with Gordon Shedden completing the top ten on his TCR debut in the second Team WRT Volkswagen.
Perhaps crucially, the Honda Civics seemed off the pace, with Josh Files the best-placed of the Japanese cars in 11th, 1.2 seconds off the pace on his debut with M1RA, while Roberto Colciago was 17th while Attila Tassi, second in the championship, failed to set a time.
