Tom Coronel fastest in Nürburgring practice on his TCR Europe return

Comtoyou Racing’s Tom Coronel was fastest in TCR Europe’s second practice on the Nürburgring’s shortened Sprint configuration.

This weekend marks Coronel’s return to the series after a one-round absence, having had to miss the races at the Norisring in July due to a clashing World Touring Car Cup round.

Most drivers changed tyres after their first installation lap of the afternoon session, and it was Janik Motorsport’s Jáchym Galáš who set the first flying lap, a 1:36.685, in his Hyundai Elantra N.

He lowered that benchmark as one of the few drivers to embark on a run straight away, and was only usurped when Coronel took a quick trip through the pits to get himself into clean air and he set a 1:35.652 in his Audi RS 3 LMS.

Marco Butti, in another Comtoyou car entered by Élite Motorsport, and Halder Motorsport’s Jack Young slotted into second and third behind, as Coronel improved to 1:35.518.

Butti bettered that, setting a 1:35.454 that was then matched by Coronel. The Audi duo did not continue to challenge each other at the top after as the Honda Civic Type R-driving Young set a blistering 1:34.806 lap that nobody could get near.

In the next 15 minutes Young was able to improve on that pace, while no other driver was able to break the 1:35 barrier.

Galas was the second to get into 1:34 territory, doing so with three minutes left on the clock. At the same time, Aggressive Team Italia’s Pepe Oriola rose up to third place after some changes were made to the front of his Hyundai Elantra N mid-session to improve its performance.

A minute after Galas’s effort, Coronel returned to first place by setting a 1:34.645. Young had already pitted so did not have time to reclaim top spot, and Galas was denied an opportunity to go fastest as a few moments later yellow flags were waved at turn six as Butti came to a stop on track. He ended the session in 10th place.

The Italian wasn’t the only driver to face car issues during the session, as Volcano Motorsport’s Klim Gavrilov did not even get to put a laptime next to his name as the driveshaft on his Cupra León Competición failed early on.

Qualifying takes place at 08:45 local time (CET) on Saturday.