Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Jordi Gené edged out West Coast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli to the top time by 0.106 seconds in second practice for the TCR International Series in Thailand.
Gené, who remains in overall championship contention, was on top of the times throughout the session, despite an improvement by Morbidelli late in the session.
“Everything is going quite well since the start of the weekend and the car feels good,” said Gené, who had earlier been fourth in first practice. “This said, as foreseeable, the gaps are getting narrower session after session. The top guys are now within half-a-second, which means that we are seeing our advantage reduced. Qualifying will be close, as always.”
Russian driver Sergey Afanasyev once again ended the session third fastest in his Craft-Bamboo SEAT, ahead of Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Lorenzo Veglia in fourth.
The third Craft-Bamboo SEAT of Pepe Oriola was fifth, ahead of West Coast Racing’s Kevin Gleason in sixth. The top six in the session were covered by less than three tenths of a second as times became closer with drivers increasing in familiarity with the circuit.
Thai racer Munkong ‘Turbo’ Sathienthirakul once again impressed at the wheel of the fourth Craft-Bamboo Racing SEAT, posting the seventh fastest time to again head the field of TCR Asia Series competitors.
“I am of course very happy with my result,” said ‘Turbo’. “It’s being a wonderful and exciting experience for me, although it is tough to have to discover many things, from the car to turbo engine and the tires, at once. But it’s great to be fighting with so many international stars.
“I don’t think knowing the circuit is such a great advantage against drivers of this calibre. I’ll just try to progress further and I think I still have a margin of improvement of 3-4 tenths.”
West Coast Racing’s René Münnich and Target Competition duo Loris Hezemans and Stefano Comini completed the top ten.
Top Run Motorsport’s Alain Menu only joined the session in the closing minutes due to an earlier transmission problem, leaving the Swiss star down in 20th position.
Having stopped on track in the earlier practice session, FRD Ford’s Robb Holland failed to take part in second practice due to technical problems.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 88 | Jordi GENÉ |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 1:44.223 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 13 | 1:44.329 | 0.106 |
| 3 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 1:44.456 | 0.233 |
| 4 | 7 | Lorenzo VEGLIA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1:44.462 | 0.239 |
| 5 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León Racer | 16 | 1:44.489 | 0.266 |
| 6 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 13 | 1:44.514 | 0.291 |
| 7 | 80 | Munkong SATHIENTHIRAKUL |  |
Craft-Bamboo Racing | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 1:44.678 | 0.455 |
| 8 | 23 | René MÜNNICH |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 13 | 1:44.725 | 0.502 |
| 9 | 15 | Loris HEZEMANS |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 12 | 1:44.876 | 0.653 |
| 10 | 25 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 1:44.891 | 0.668 |
| 11 | 4 | Tomas ENGSTRÖM |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 14 | 1:44.911 | 0.688 |
| 12 | 31 | Tin SRITRAI | |
Asia Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 13 | 1:45.272 | 1.049 |
| 13 | 45 | Hugo VALENTE |  |
Campos Racing | Opel Astra OPC | 9 | 1:45.381 | 1.158 |
| 14 | 68 | Michael CHOI |  |
Prince Racing Hong Kong | Honda Civic TCR | 14 | 1:45.408 | 1.185 |
| 15 | 35 | Rafaël GALIANA | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1:45.808 | 1.585 |
| 16 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf TCR | 7 | 1:45.864 | 1.641 |
| 17 | 38 | Kenneth LAU | |
Prince Racing Hong Kong | Honda Civic TCR | 15 | 1:45.874 | 1.651 |
| 18 | 66 | Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA |  |
Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 12 | 1:46.198 | 1.975 |
| 19 | 69 | Kevin PU |  |
Asia Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1:46.313 | 2.090 |
| 20 | 52 | Alain MENU | |
Top Run Motorsport | Subaru STi TCR | 3 | 1:47.140 | 2.917 |
| 21 | 56 | Samson CHAN | |
Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 15 | 1:47.425 | 3.202 |
| 22 | 67 | Johnson HUANG |  |
Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Racer | 14 | 1:47.703 | 3.480 |
| 23 | 65 | Douglas KHOO |  |
Niza Racing | SEAT León Racer | 12 | 1:55.811 | 11.588 |
| 24 | 27 | Robb HOLLAND | |
FRD Ford HK Racing Team | Ford Focus ST | 0 | No time | N/A |