Jean-Karl Vernay sets the pace on the streets of Singapore

Leopard Racing duo Jean-Karl Vernay and Stefano Comini set the pace in first practice for the TCR International Series on the streets of Singapore, with Vernay just over a second clear of the entire field.

The Frenchman hit the top of the times with just under half of the session remaining, which took place in daylight conditions at the Formula One-supporting event.

“It’s a very positive first contact with this track, which I didn’t know, and I am even surprised of my result,” said Vernay after he dominated the session. “The track was very dirty, and I missed the track limits a couple of times when still exploring the circuit and learning it.

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“I checked Stefano’s lines to try to learn faster, and when I put on new tyres at the end, the lap times came. The feeling is good, and I always liked a lot street circuits, now we can start working on the set-up.”

Behind Comini was B3 Racing’s Dušan Borković in third, less than a tenth slower than the Volkswagen driver, whilst Mikhail Grachev was the leading Honda driver in fourth.

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s championship contender Pepe Oriola was fifth fastest, ahead of team-mate Sergey Afanasyev in sixth.

WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli was seventh quickest in his rebuilt Honda Civic, whilst Target Competition’s Loris Hezemans was the best of the single-event entrants this weekend, putting his SEAT in eighth, and being the last driver within two seconds of the pace.

Championship leader James Nash could only manage 11^th fastest in his SEAT, just ahead of series returnee Kevin Gleason in 12^th, and the Opel of Jordi Oriola in 13^th, despite a problem with the hydraulic piping of the gearbox on his car.

Further back there were also positive first steps for the new FRD Motorsport-developed Ford Focus of Martin Cao Hongwei, who was 15^th, with his team fine-tuning the setup during the half-hour session.

Petr Fulín was 17^th quickest after an engine which was running on only three cylinders, leaving him down the order with the overheating Target Competition honda of Rafaël Galiana.

Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s second driver this weekend, Filipe Clemente de Souza, was the only driver not to post a competitive time due to electrical gremlins on the Volkswagen Golf GTi.

Qualifying takes place at 14:40 local time on Saturday (07:40 BST, 08:40 CEST).

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	2	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Leopard Racing	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	14	2:25.570	0.000
2	1	Stefano COMINI		Leopard Racing	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	14	2:26.572	1.002
3	62	Dušan BORKOVIĆ		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	13	2:26.629	1.059
4	8	Mikhail GRACHEV		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	14	2:26.791	1.221
5	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	11	2:26.817	1.247
6	77	Sergey AFANASYEV		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	13	2:27.008	1.438
7	10	Gianni MORBIDELLI		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	10	2:27.070	1.500
8	50	Loris HEZEMANS		Target Competition	SEAT León Cup Racer	12	2:27.262	1.692
9	9	Attila TASSI		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	13	2:27.603	2.033
10	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	13	2:27.644	2.074
11	54	James NASH		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	14	2:28.127	2.557
12	24	Kevin GLEASON		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	15	2:29.094	3.524
13	33	Jordi ORIOLA		Kissling Motorsport	Opel Astra TCR	6	2:29.334	3.764
14	7	Davit KAJAIA		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	14	2:30.571	5.001
15	99	Martin CAO Hongwei		FRD Racing Team	Ford Focus TCR	9	2:30.922	5.352
16	35	Rafaël GALIANA		Target Competition	Honda Civic TCR	10	2:31.125	5.555
17	22	Petr FULÍN		Mulsanne Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	6	2:33.113	7.543
18	64	Neric WEI Chaoyin		Son Veng Racing Team	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	13	2:36.435	10.865
19	65	Douglas KHOO Kok Hui		Viper Niza Racing	SEAT León Cup Racer	14	2:38.328	12.758
20	68	Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	3	No time	N/A