The weather had turned to cold, with a threat of rain for the first Practice session. Drivers were cautious while completing their first laps out, as the track was still damp after the night rain. Eventually, Ferenc Ficza posted the fastest lap in his Zele Racing SEAT León, just like in yesterday’s testing.
Lap times began to drop after the first ten minutes, with Stefano Comini jumping ahead of the classification in his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS. The Swiss’ 1:43.757 was soon eclipsed by Pepe Oriola who clocked a provisional fastest lap of 1:42.936 in his Lukoil Craft-Bamboo SEAT León. Soon afterwards, Oriola improved to 1:42.609, leading from Davit Kajaia (1:42.940 in the GE-Force Alfa Romeo Giulietta) and Attila Tassi (1:42.979 in the M1RA Honda Civic Type-R).
With ten minutes left on the clock the duo of Hungarian youngsters moved the mark ahead. Tassi posted a new provisional fastest lap of 1:42.307 and then Ficza jumped on top for good with a lap of 1:41.850.
Kajaia improved further to climb to second (1:42.087) ahead of Tassi (1:42.114) and Jean-Karl Vernay (1:42.334 in the Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi). After lying at the bottom of the timesheet for most of the session, Hugo Valente (Lukoil Craft-Bamboo) eventually moved up to fifth with a lap of 1:42.602 that was only seven thousandths faster than Oriola’s 1:42.609.
The Italian duo of Roberto Colciago (1:42.678 in the M1RA Honda Civic Type-R) and Gianni Morbidelli (1:42.727 in the WestCoast Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi) ranked seventh and eight, while Mat’o Homola drove the first DG Sport Compétition Opel Astra to the ninth position (1:42.734) followed by Comini (1:42.781).
The first eleven drivers and cars of all six brands were all within the same second.
The second practice will begin at 12:10 local time.
