Santiago Urrutia tops the first practice session at Oschersleben
WRT’s Santiago Urrutia was fastest of all in the first TCR Europe practice session at Oschersleben, with the Uruguayan leading the way in his Audi head of the two Hondas of Tom Coronel and Dan Lloyd.
Urrutia popped in his best time of 1:31.681 on new tyres with just under two minutes remaining in his RS 3 LMS to depose Coronel, with the Dutchman falling to second and the rival Brutal Fish Racing Honda of Lloyd finishing third.
The two Hondas had jumped to the fore with just ten minutes to go, after the session had been led by Hyundai for the first two-thirds, with Target Competition’s Andreas Bäckman, M1RA’s Luca Engstler and M Racing’s Nelson Panciatici all holding the top spot.
Urrutia and Coronel were the only drivers under the 1:32 marker, with Lloyd third and Panciatici finishing up fourth, the best of the Hyundais at the end of the 30-minute session.
Next up was Engstler, followed by Andreas Bäckman, with Gianni Morbidelli, twice a race winner here two years ago in the TCR International Series, seventh fastest in his WestCoast Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR.
Davit Kajaia was the best of the Cupras in eighth, with Zsolt Szabo an impressive ninth on his first outing with M1RA after replacing Dániel Nagy at the last minute. Jessica Bäckman completed the top ten.
Free Practice 2 follows at 16:10 CEST.
