Reigning TCR International Series champion Stefano Comini set the pace in first practice in Estoril, putting his Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golf almost a second ahead of the WestCoast Racing Honda of Gianni Morbidelli.
As expected, the Golf GTi was one of the fastest cars around the Portuguese circuit in a partially wet session, with Comini’s time of 2:02.233, which came after 25 minutes had passed, proving to be the one to beat.
Morbidelli had left the session at the half-way stage, but had no answer to defending champion Comini, who’s Golf is one of several cars which have received a 30 kg weight break ahead of this weekend’s meeting.
Young rookie Attila Tassi was the fastest SEAT León driver in third, ahead of fellow rookie Aku Pellinen in fourth in the second WestCoast Racing Honda.
Comini’s team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay was fifth fastest, with the Frenchman being the last driver to be within two seconds of the pace.
None of the Craft-Bamboo Racing trio of Pepe Oriola, James Nash or Sergey Afanasyev completed any competitive running, with Oriola ending up 22 seconds off the pace after just three laps of running in order to bed his brakes in.
Michela Cerruti in the Romeo Ferraris Alfa Romeo Giulietta suffered with engine gremlins during the session and also failed to post a representative time.
Second practice takes place at 10:15 local time on Saturday (10:15 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | Stefano Comini |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 6 | 2:02.233 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 5 | 2:03.093 | 0.860 |
| 3 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 6 | 2:03.353 | 1.120 |
| 4 | 14 | Aku PELLINEN |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 2 | 2:03.445 | 1.212 |
| 5 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 3 | 2:03.617 | 1.384 |
| 6 | 26 | Francisco MORA |  |
Baporo Motorsport | SEAT León Cup Racer | 4 | 2:04.290 | 2.057 |
| 7 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 3 | 2:04.403 | 2.170 |
| 8 | 31 | Luca RANGONI | |
Top Run Motorsport | Subaru Sti TCR | 5 | 2:04.471 | 2.238 |
| 9 | 24 | Kevin GLEASON |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 4 | 2:04.504 | 2.271 |
| 10 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 8 | 2:05.052 | 2.819 |
| 11 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 8 | 2:05.497 | 3.264 |
| 12 | 50 | Loris HEZEMANS |  |
Baporo Motorsport | SEAT León Cup Racer | 9 | 2:07.149 | 4.916 |
| 13 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 2 | 2:14.185 | 11.952 |
| 14 | 88 | Michela CERRUTI | |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 5 | 2:15.048 | 12.815 |
| 15 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 3 | 2:24.212 | 21.979 |