Norbert Michelisz strikes late to top second WTCR practice

BRC Squadra Corse’s Norbert Michelisz put in a superb final effort to top the second World Touring Car Cup practice at Anneau du Rhin, beating team-mate Mikel Azcona by just three thousandths of a second.

Michelisz, who finished the morning session second fastest, posted a best time of 1:26.769 to lead a Hyundai Elantra N TCR one-two at the end of the 30-minute session.

Such was the competitiveness of the 12-car field, that the top four was split by just six hundredths of a second, and the top 10 by less than six tenths.

Azcona was the early benchmark at the start of the session, with his 1:26.772 a mere three hundredths quicker than Michelisz.

That time seemed to be unbeatable until the dying seconds, as Michelisz moved to the top of the times after the chequered flag flew.

Second practice was a far better showing for the Hondas in general, with Attila Tassi ending up four hundredths off the pace in third, while Néstor Girolami was fifth.

Indeed, all four Civic Type Rs had solid pace throughout, with Tiago Monteiro – who focused on a race run in FP1 – briefly third, as was Esteban Guerrieri who ultimately finished the session eighth.

Splitting the Hondas were the Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS cars of Nathanaël Berthon in fourth, while Gilles Magnus was sixth ahead of team-mate Tom Coronel. The fourth Audi of Mehdi Bennani was 10th.

Berthon, who was quickest in FP1, was the last of the leading quartet but remained just 0.066s adrift of the fastest time.

It was a difficult session for the Cupras of Dáni Nagy and Rob Huff who filled the bottom two places in the standings. For Huff, “tyre chattering” was reported on his Zengö Motorsport León midway through the session, and the British driver failed to complete a representative time thereafter.

Nagy also appeared to struggle for pace and finished the session almost a second down on Michelisz.

Qualifying is up next for WTCR, with the first segment due to begin at 15:00 CEST.