Craft-Bamboo Racing’s James Nash set the pace in Friday’s test day at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand, before the Brit then suffered a high-speed accident.
Nash topped the third of four one-hour sessions on Friday, which were unofficial sessions designed to allow the teams and drivers to iron out any issues with their cars following shipping to Asia over the Summer.
The Brit crashed near the end of the fourth session, causing it to be brought to a premature conclusion.
“It had been an excellent day until the crash,” said Nash, who was just under a tenth faster than WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli, who had posted his best time in the final session. “I was in my first flying lap and when I hit the brakes at Turn 3, something happened. The car couldn’t brake nor turn.
“I went off at very high speed and could only put the car sideways in the gravel not to hit the barriers head on. It was a very big shunt, one of the worst in my career, but luckily, I am OK.
“We will see if the car is reparable and most importantly, we’ll have to analyse all the data and try to understand what happened.”
Third and fourth fastest were the Leopard Racing Volkswagen duo of Jean-Karl Vernay and Stefano Comini, ahead of the leading B3 Racing Team SEAT of Mat’o Homola in fifth.
No fewer than seven Thai racers are contesting their home round in Buriram and Vattana Motorsport’s Narasak Ittiritpong was the fastest of them all, putting his Honda in 11th overall at the end of the day, 1.310 seconds off Nash’s best time.
Pepe Oriola, currently second overall in the drivers’ championship and just one point behind leader Comini, didn’t take part in the session to allow his foot injury more time to heal ahead of Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.
Combined session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 40 | 1:43.921 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 45 | 1:44.019 | 0.098 |
| 3 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 46 | 1:44.038 | 0.117 |
| 4 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 35 | 1:44.250 | 0.329 |
| 5 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 49 | 1:44.302 | 0.381 |
| 6 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 56 | 1:44.745 | 0.824 |
| 7 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 34 | 1:44.756 | 0.835 |
| 8 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 41 | 1:44.894 | 0.973 |
| 9 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 51 | 1:45.020 | 1.099 |
| 10 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 46 | 1:45.174 | 1.253 |
| 11 | 13 | Narasak ITTIRITPONG |  |
Vattana Motorsport | Honda Civic TCR | 36 | 1:45.231 | 1.310 |
| 12 | 44 | Jack LEMVARD | |
Vattana Motorsport | SEAT León Cup Racer | 35 | 1:45.237 | 1.316 |
| 13 | 15 | Kantadhee KUSIRI | |
Eakie BBR Kaiten | Honda Civic TCR | 38 | 1:45.422 | 1.501 |
| 14 | 55 | Munkong SATHIENTHIRAKUL | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 51 | 1:45.583 | 1.662 |
| 15 | 22 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 22 | 1:45.743 | 1.822 |
| 16 | 12 | Alexander MIES |  |
Kratingdaen Racing Team | SEAT León Cup Racer | 51 | 1:45.981 | 2.060 |
| 17 | 53 | Kari-Pekka LAAKSONEN |  |
LMS Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 63 | 1:46.351 | 2.430 |
| 18 | 11 | Grant SUPAPHONGS | |
Kratingdaen Racing Team | SEAT León Cup Racer | 21 | 1:46.504 | 2.583 |
| 19 | 97 | Paritat BULBON | |
Sloth Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 33 | 1:46.932 | 3.011 |
| 20 | 66 | Nattachak HANJITKASEN | |
TBN MK Ihere Racing Team | Honda Civic TCR | 29 | 1:46.994 | 3.073 |
| 21 | 58 | CHEN Jian Hong |  |
Kratingdaen Racing Team | SEAT León Cup Racer | 36 | 1:47.034 | 3.113 |
| 22 | 35 | Rafaël GALIANA | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 29 | 1:47.079 | 3.158 |
| 23 | 32 | Luigi FERRARA | |
Top Run Motorsport | Subaru Sti TCR | 12 | 1:48.326 | 4.405 |
| 24 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |