Norbert Michelisz stamped in the fastest time of free practice right at the end of the second session for the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour at Paul Ricard.
The Hungarian and his BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse Spaniard teammate Mikel Azcona flashed their Elantra N EV cars across the start-finish line at the chequered flag to end the 30 minutes first and second in the timesheet, only for Azcona to lose his lap to a track-limits breach.
On his first two flying laps, Azcona was already faster than the time with which Victor Weyrich had topped FP1. There was a brief red flag after Gilles Chauvin clipped the tyre stack at the T1 apex and his SP Compétition CUPRA came to rest in the run-off area with damaged front suspension.
After the resumption, Michelisz eclipsed the earlier time of Azcona, who then went faster still. Next, Yann Ehrlacher went quickest in his Geely Cyan Racing Geely Preface with a lap of 1:31.312, before Michelisz’s last-lap charge to a 1:31.187.
Ehrlacher finished second from Azcona, the SP Compétition CUPRA Leon VZ of Aurélien Comte, and Weyrich in his Herrero Racing CUPRA. Next came the Geely Cyan pair Santiago Urrutia and Ma Qing Hua, with Julien Briché, Thed Björk and Teddy Clairet completing the top 10.
Picture: WSC/Fastclick-AvensImages
