B3 Racing’s Mat’o Homola set the pace in first practice for the TCR International Series at Oschersleben in Germany, putting his SEAT over half a second than that of Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola.
Homola’s time of 1:35.354 was set in the final minutes of the session, toppling the time set by fellow SEAT racer Oriola, who had been fastest for much of the session.
The second Craft-Bamboo car of James Nash ended the session in third, just 0.010 seconds behind his team-mate.
Petr Fulín was an impressive fourth fastest in the Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR car, which was within a second of the pace in only the second outing since the car was heavily revised earlier this year.
Reigning champion Stefano Comini put his Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golf in fifth, ahead of Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Sergey Afanasyev in sixth, who was the last driver within a second of the pace.
Jean-Karl Vernay was seventh fastest in the second Leopard Racing Golf, whilst the two WestCoast Racing Honda Civic drivers struggled, ending the session with Mikhail Grachev the quicker in 11th, ahead of Gianni Morbidelli in 12th, both drivers almost 1.5 seconds off the pace.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 15 | 1:35.354 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 15 | 1:35.937 | 0.583 |
| 3 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 1:35.947 | 0.593 |
| 4 | 22 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 6 | 1:36.155 | 0.801 |
| 5 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 15 | 1:36.225 | 0.871 |
| 6 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 10 | 1:36.296 | 0.942 |
| 7 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 14 | 1:36.475 | 1.121 |
| 8 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 15 | 1:36.572 | 1.218 |
| 9 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 15 | 1:36.610 | 1.256 |
| 10 | 48 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 11 | 1:36.663 | 1.309 |
| 11 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 15 | 1:36.782 | 1.428 |
| 12 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 13 | 1:36.787 | 1.433 |
| 13 | 88 | Michela CERRUTI | |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 12 | 1:36.990 | 1.636 |
| 14 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 13 | 1:37.170 | 1.816 |
| 15 | 47 | Gary SHEEHAN |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 14 | 1:37.228 | 1.874 |
| 16 | 46 | Niklas MACKSHIN |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 13 | 1:37.740 | 2.386 |