Thed Björk fastest in red flag-interrupted final Zhuzhou practice

Thed Björk was fastest in the final free practice session of the FIA TCR World Tour race weekend at Zhuzhou, a session interrupted by a red flag caused by Chan Chun Leung.

Honda driver Chan Chun Leung spun off into the tyre barriers 13 minutes into the session, causing a brief red flag session.

Cyan Racing driver Björk set a fastest lap time of 1:44.343 to beat BRC Hyundai driver Mikel Azcona by 0.227 seconds.

Aurélien Comte took his Cupra to third place, four tenths from Björk, while local hero Ma Qing Hua was fourth fastest, 28 thousands of a second slower than Comte.

HMO Customer Racing’s Will Brown was fifth fastest, six tenths from the top time, while points leader Yann Ehrlacher claimed position six.

Néstor Girolami, who topped the first practice session, was next up in seventh while fellow Hyundai driver Lo Sze Ho climed eighth.

Title contender Esteban Guerrieri improved from his torrid 15th place finish in the first practice session to ninth in the second, albeit almost nine tenths off Björk’s time.

Reigning champion Norbert Michelisz rounded off the top ten, 1.147 seconds from the top time.

Next up is qualifying, starting at 10:00 local time/03:00 CET on Saturday.