Niels Langeveld tops red flag-interrupted first Suzuka practice in torrential rain
Audi driver Niels Langeveld topped the first World Touring Car Cup practice session at Suzuka, a session interrupted once with a red flag and held in torrential rain.
The red flag came as Comtoyou Racing Cupra driver Aurélien Panis went off at Turn 1 and hit the tyre wall hard. The French driver escaped unharmed but left the team with substantial repairs with only one hour to the next practice session.
“I’m OK,” said Panis. “It was a bit hard. Now I just hope the car will be ready for quallie – it will be quite complicated for Free Practice 2. I’m just so sorry for the team.”
Langeveld’s Audi Sport Team Comtoyou team-mate Frederic Vervisch was second fastest, just 75 thousands of a second behind.
Reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini was fastest of the Hyundai drivers in third position, seven hundredths of a second ahead of Volkswagen driver Rob Huff.
Lynk & Co Cyan Racing’s Yvan Muller claimed position five, reporting power steering issues, four tenths from the top spot, while KCMG driver Tiago Monteiro was fastest of the Honda drivers, claiming position six.
Jean-Karl Vernay, driving an Audi RS 3 LMS, and Mikel Azcona, driving a Cupra TCR, rounded off the top eight.
Title contender Esteban Guerrieri was ninth fastest while championship leader Norbert Michelisz only managed the 25th fastest time, 1,8 seconds from P1, reporting gearshift issues.
The second practice session starts at 10:15 local time / 03:15 CEST.
