Nicola Baldan tops opening day of TCR Europe practice at Monza
PMA Motorsport dominated the opening day of the penultimate round of the 2026 TCR Europe season at Monza, as Nicola Baldan topped both practice sessions.
The Italian, at the wheel of his Audi RS 3 LMS TCR, set the quickest time of the weekend so far in the afternoon session, his 1:53.743 a mere eight-hundredths of a second faster than his points-leading team-mate Nicolas Taylor.
Baldan was quickest in the opening session which was twice red flagged following incidents for Sandro Pelatti and Max Hart, at Ascari and Biassono respectively. The latter’s crash occurred in the closing minutes, bringing the session to premature ending.
Having finished fourth in Thursday’s test, Baldan hit the top of the times after the session resumed following Pelatti’s off, with early pacesetter Mikhail Simonov second fastest.
A flurry of improvements came in the final stages, with Baldan ending the session with a time of 1:54.738, nearly a quarter of a second quicker than Simonov, with title contender Viktor Andersson third.
Thursday’s pacesetter Taylor, who holds a 14-point lead over Andersson heading into the weekend, was ninth fastest behind the pair of Monlau Motorsport Cupra León VZ TCRs of Adam Shepherd and Marco Butti and the RC2 Team Honda of Felipe Fernández.
The second session proved incredibly competitive with the top 10 comprising of two Audis, four Cupras, two Hondas and two Hyundais, setting up a potentially enticing qualifying session on Saturday.
SP Compétition’s Simonov emerged as a serious contender for pole position with another strong showing in FP2. The Russian driver, driving a Cupra León VZ TCR, was third quickest in the afternoon.
Having finished outside the top 10 in FP1, ALM Motorsport began to show their hand in the afternoon too, with Mike Halder fifth and Ruben Volt sixth, both within half a second of Baldan’s best.
Alex Ley was the quickest of the Hyundais, his FP2 time of 1:54.486 nearly six-tenths of a second faster than Covini’s time in the morning.
Qualifying at Monza is scheduled to take place on Saturday at 11:55 CEST.
