Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola remained on top of the times in first practice for the TCR International Series in Sochi, ahead of series newcomer Tomas Engström and WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli.
Oriola set the pace despite having his best lap time disallowed for having exceeded the track limits. The Spaniard ended the session 0.203 seconds faster than Swedish newcomer Engström, who is sampling the TCR Series for the first time in Russia.
“It was a good session but we still have some work to do on the car, especially because the grip is not too good,” said Oriola. “The surface would need much more rubber on it. It’s already very warm in the morning, so heat will be a parameter to take into account for sure.”
Points leader Morbidelli was third quickest, improving in the second half of the session, despite also having his best lap time disallowed.
Craft-Bamboo Lukoil duo Jordi Gené and Sergey Afanasyev were fourth and fifth fastest, with the latter the quickest of the four Russians taking part in their home event.
Engstler Motorsport’s Mikhail Grachev was sixth quickest, ahead of Target Competition duo Michel Nykjær and Andrea Belicchi in seventh and eighth respectively.
Former WTCC driver Aleksey Duduaklo and Target Competition’s Stefano Comini completed the top ten.
Just 12 cars are participating in the TCR Series in Russia, with both Proteam Racing and Campos Racing electing to miss the meeting as they continue to develop their Ford Focus and Opel Astra cars respectively.
Also not taking part in the Russian round is Ukrainian driver Igor Skuz, with the reasons for his absence not clear. He has been replaced by Ildar Rakhmatullin for the event, who was the slowest driver in the field.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 12 | 2:22.476 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 4 | Tomas ENGSTRÖM |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 10 | 2:22.679 | 0.203 |
| 3 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 9 | 2:22.735 | 0.259 |
| 4 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 9 | 2:22.799 | 0.323 |
| 5 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 9 | 2:22.822 | 0.346 |
| 6 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 10 | 2:23.006 | 0.530 |
| 7 | 17 | Michel NYKJÆR |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 11 | 2:23.121 | 0.645 |
| 8 | 33 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 11 | 2:23.212 | 0.736 |
| 9 | 2 | Aleksey DUDUKALO | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 9 | 2:23.308 | 0.832 |
| 10 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 11 | 2:23.459 | 0.983 |
| 11 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 10 | 2:23.525 | 1.049 |
| 12 | 26 | Ildar RAKHMATULLIN | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 11 | 2:25.381 | 2.905 |