Competitors of the TCR International Series had their first taste of the Zhejiang Circuit today, during a free testing session of two hours and twenty minutes.
Three Volkswagen Golf GTI cars topped the time sheet, with the Leopard Racing pairing of Rob Huff and Jean-Karl Vernay posting the fastest lap times of 1:34.191 and 1:34.209 respectively. WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli ranked third with a lap of 1:34.232.
Fourth and fifth were placed the debuting Hyundai i30 N cars of Gabriele Tarquini (1:34.444) and Alain Menu (1:34.428), while Daniel Lloyd and Roberto Colciago were the fastest SEAT and Honda drivers. They were sixth and seventh with laps of 1:34.737 and 1:34.830 respectively.
Pepe Oriola was the last driver to go under 1:35 mark, clocking a 1:34.920 that placed him eighth. James Nash (1:35.318) Dušan Borković’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta (1:35.380) and Stefano Comini’s Audi RS3 LMS (1:35.415) filled the positions between 9 and 11.
Further down, in 16th position and nearly two seconds off the pace, was Mat’o Homola’s Opel Astra (1:36.111) that was followed by the first local driver, Zhendong Zhang in the ZZZ Audi (1:36.132).
Current championship leader Attila Tassi completed only five laps at a slow pace due to an engine problem; luckily for him his Honda Civic was fitted with a test engine and not the one sealed by the scrutineers.
Track action will resume tomorrow with the first of two Free Practice sessions at 10:00 am local time (04:00 am in Central Europe) that will be streamed live at (www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv).
