Yann Ehrlacher was fastest in a delayed final free practice session at Vila Real, setting a last-minute improvement to topple Hyundai’s Norbert Michelisz.
The practice was held over an hour behind schedule due to incidents in the supporting events. When the session eventually got underway, the four Geely Cyan Racing cars quickly occupied the top of the time sheets, with Thed Björk leading teammates Ehrlacher, Santiago Urrutia, and Ma Qing Hua.
With half the session left, Michelisz then moved to the fore, just under a tenth of a second ahead of Björk, before Ehrlacher was the first to do a new tyre run and move over a second clear.
Björk then moved up to second, before Michelisz became the first driver to go under the two-minute mark this weekend, setting a time of 1:59.841. He was briefly deposed by championship leader Urrutia, but his time was later deleted due to a track limit infringement, and he ended the session seventh. A final flying lap from Ehrlacher saw the reigning champion go two-tenths of a second quicker than Michelisz with a time of 1:59.640.
Michelisz would finish ahead of a Ma Qing Hua, who went up to third in the final moments ahead of Björk, with Aurélien Comte the fastest of the CUPRA contingent in sixth. Viktor Andersson was the ETS Guest Star Trophy leader in eighth, finishing ahead of Jimmy Clairet and Jenson Brickley, two drivers who are both making their Vila Real debuts this weekend.
Due to the delays in the schedule, qualifying will take place ten minutes later than originally planned at 15:35 local time (16:35 CEST).
Picture: WSC/Fastclick-AvensImages
