Photo: TCR Europe

Sami Taoufik dominates Friday TCR Europe practice at Barcelona

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Comtoyou Racing’s Sami Taoufik completed a clean-sweep of TCR Europe series free practice at Barcelona, topping the times in both sessions.

The Audi RS 3 LMS driver was comfortably the quickest in the pair of 30-minute sessions, setting a best time of 1:54.653 in FP2.

Taoufik had set the fastest time in the first session, beating Target Competition’s John Filippi by over half a second.

Filippi’s team-mate Jessica Bäckman had held the top spot for much of the session before finishing a strong third quickest in the second Hyundai i30 N TCR.

Taoufik was equally unstoppable in second practice, heading Bäckman by 0.555s and nearly a full second ahead of the next best Audi, Nicolas Baert in fourth.

It was also a positive day for the sole Cupra in the field, with Russian Evgenii Leonov (Volcano Motorsport) ending the day with the fifth and third fastest times in FP1 and FP2 respectively.

For Monza race winners Julien Briché (JSB Compétition Peugeot 308TCR) and Pepe Oriola (Brutal Fish Racing Honda Civic Type-R), it was a mixed day, with Oriola managing sixth in FP1 and fifth in the second session.

Briché had a much tougher day despite the Barcelona circuit playing into the hands of the 308TCR. The Frenchman finished the day on the cusp of the top 10, with 12th and 11th respectively.

Carrying substantial compensation weight in his Brutal Fish Honda Civic Type-R, Series points leader Dan Lloyd could only manage 15th and 17th in the pair of sessions.

Lloyd, who holds a 32-point cushion at the top of the standings, will have his work cut out if he is to extend his margin come Sunday’s final race of the weekend.

His closest title rival, Baert in the Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS enjoyed a promising day, finishing fourth in both sessions and in a strong position to make the most of the straight-line speed and aerodynamic superiority of the Audi in the races.

Andreas Bäckman marked his return to action following a hand injury which forced him to miss both of the races at Monza last month with a pair of top 10 times in hus Target Competition Hyundai i30 N TCR.

Next up for TCR Europe is qualifying which is scheduled to take place on Saturday at 11:45 CEST.