Norbert Michelisz leads opening Sepang practice as Lynk & Co struggle
Championship leader Norbert Michelisz got his World Touring Car Cup title bid off to the best possible start in opening practice at the Sepang season-finale, setting the pace while the Lynk & Co cars languished well down the order.
Michelisz sat on top of the timesheets throughout the 45-minute session, working his way down to a 2:15.124 best in his BRC-run Hyundai i30 N TCR.
That lap proved enough to fend off the late advances of Honda’s Néstor Girolami, who came within 0.035s of besting Michelisz with a strong lap in the closing stages.
Girolami’s effort marked good news for Munnich Motorsport stablemate Esteban Guerrieri, who trails Michelisz by nine points in the title race. Guerrieri was 15th in opening practice, 1.286s off, but can take comfort from his countryman’s pace aboard the sister Honda Civic Type R TCR.
It was a more sinister story for the other two title contenders, however. Thed Björk and Yvan Muller both wound up well down the order in 25th and 26th place respectively, almost two seconds off the pace as Lynk & Co Cyan Racing appeared to seriously struggle in the Sepang heat.
Andy Priaulx was the make’s top representative in 20th place, 1.477s down on Michelisz, with Yann Ehrlacher an alarming 29th aboard the fourth 03 TCR.
Top 2019 rookie Mikel Azcona had a more promising session at the other end of the timesheets, finishing third in the PWR Racing Cupra, with Jean-Karl Vernay taking fourth for WRT Audi.
Two wild card entries were next up, with Mitchell Cheah looking potentially on course to realize his pre-weekend ambitions courtesy of fifth place in FP1. Cheah, driving an Engstler-run Hyundai i30 N TCR as he makes his WTCR debut at his home track, wound up less than half a second off the ultimate pace.
João Paulo de Oliveira also impressed on his series debut, taking sixth for KCMG Honda.
Frédéric Vervisch was seventh fastest despite his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS briefly stopping on track, recovering to complete a promising session for the team that is currently working to keep the Audi brand on the grid next year.
Tom Coronel (driving one of Comtoyou’s Cupras) and outgoing champion Gabriele Tarquini had an incident at Turn 1 early on, compromising the session for both – although Tarquini seemed less affected and was able to re-join on his way to eighth place in the Hyundai.
Cupra’s Aurélien Panis and Hyundai’s Nicky Catsburg completed the top ten.
Free Practice 2 takes place at 12:45 local time / 05:45 CET.
