Frédéric Vervisch: Audi tyre wear has “improved a lot” but still work to do

Frédéric Vervisch led a Comtoyou Racing one-two in the TCR World Tour’s first ever practice session at Algarve, but knows more than single-lap pace will decide who wins this weekend.

Four different manufacturers were represented in the top ten in practice one, with the Comtoyou-run Audi RS 3 LMS II TCRs in first, second, fifth and ninth.

Hyundai and Honda were present in the top five, Lynk & Co’s fastest car was sixth, and the grid’s sole Peugeot ended the session in 13th place. While nobody admitted to sandbagging during practice, there was also an uncertainty on which car was the closest rival to the Audis.

“Definitely not bad, but we know the competition is extremely fast and we’re doing our maximum that we can,” Vervisch told TouringCarTimes after practice one.

“We show our potential, and we’re still working together because it’s the first time we drive [as team-mates], me and Rob Huff. So obviously we’re still trying things to see how we can be competitive tomorrow. That’s the goal, but let’s see.”

The track was hot for the morning session, thanks to a high sun and little cloud cover, and similar conditions are expected for practice two and also later in the weekend for the races. Higher temperatures make it harder to manage tyres on a track that has several heavy braking zones.

“I mean everybody knows on the Audi that’s one of our difficult points,” admitted Vervisch.

“It’s improved a lot, but still this is where we have to work the most. And with these hot temperatures it definitely doesn’t help, but at the end it’s the same for everyone and at the moment we’re confident we’re doing a good job, we made good steps, and trying to get the maximum out of our package. The vibe is good, and we keep on working.”

Practice two starts at 16:42 local time later today.