Photo: TCR Europe

Néstor Girolami heads red flagged first practice at Spa-Francorchamps

By

Néstor Girolami topped a close first free practice session of the joint TCR World Tour and TCR Europe race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, a session which was red flagged with just minutes left.

The red flags were brought out due to debris at Turn 1, with the race directors soon announcing the session would not be resumed.

Honda driver Girolami lapped the Spa circuit in 2:30.021, beating Lynk & Co Cyan Racing driver Santiago Urrutia with just 18 thousands of a second.

Comtoyou Racing’s Tom Coronel was third fastest, just 15 thousands of a second from Urrutia, meaning just 0.033 seconds covering the top three.

Ma Qing Hua put his new generation Lynk & Co 03 TCR in fourth place, seven tenths from the top time, two tenths ahead of Audi driver John Filippi.

Thed Björk claimed the sixth fastest time ahead of former WTCC champion Rob Huff while local hero Frédéric Vervisch rounded off the top eight, just below a second from Girolami’s time.

Local driver Kobe Pauwels only managed two laps before heading into the paddock with an unspecified issue.

The next free practice session starts at 14:35 CEST.