Pepe Oriola sets the Sepang practice pace

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Pepe Oriola set the pace in free practice for the TCR International Series at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, over half a second clear of Leopard Racing’s Jean-Karl Vernay.

O a newly-resurface circuit, lap times were significantly faster than those set at the first-ever TCR meeting back in March 2015.

Oriola spent much of the session at the top of the times, continually improving in his SEAT León in what is the only practice session for the TCR field this weekend due to the time constraints of supporting Formula One.

- Advertisement -

WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli was third fastest, 1.149 seconds off the pace, ahead of an impressive time by B3 Racing’s Attila Tassi in fourth.

Reigning champion Stefano Comini brought the second Leopard Volkswagen across the line with the fifth-best time, ahead of championship leader James Nash in sixth, just under 1.5 seconds off the pace.

The session had to be twice red-flagged due to firstly Andy Yan spinning off at Turn 1 and beaching his Volkswagen Golf in the gravel trap.

A second delay occurred when TCR Asia competitor Bill O’Brien went off in the gravel and the session eventually resumed with eight minutes to run.

Teamwork Motorsport’s Kevin Tse was the fastest of the TCR Asia Series competitors in 11^th, ahead of Tin Sritrai in 16^th, Filipe Clemente de Souza in 17^th and Douglas Khoo in 19^th.

TCR International newcomers Roberto Colciago and Nicky Pastorelli were 12^th and 18^th quickestg in their Honda Civic and Ford Focus cars respectively.

Several drivers experienced technical issues, including Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Sergey Afanasyev, who completed just three laps due to gearbox issues. His fellow Russian, Mikhail Grachev, also had intercooler issues on his way to 13^th fastest.

Liqui Moly Team Engstlers’ Davit Kajaia also stopped on the track at the end of the session after running out of fuel – the Georgian was 15^th.

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	12	2:16.241	0.000
2	2	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Leopard Racing	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	9	2:16.850	0.609
3	10	Gianni MORBIDELLI		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	11	2:17.390	1.149
4	9	Attila TASSI		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	12	2:17.492	1.251
5	1	Stefano COMINI		Leopard Racing	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	10	2:17.524	1.283
6	54	James NASH		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	13	2:17.716	1.475
7	50	Loris HEZEMANS		Target Competition	SEAT León TCR	12	2:17.847	1.606
8	24	Kevin GLEASON		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	12	2:17.929	1.688
9	62	Dušan BORKOVIĆ		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	12	2:17.930	1.689
10	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		B3 Racing Team Hungary	SEAT León TCR	13	2:18.124	1.883
11	28	Kevin TSE Wing Kin		Teamwork Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	12	2:19.008	2.767
12	5	Roberto COLCIAGO		Target Competition	Honda Civic TCR	13	2:19.252	3.011
13	8	Mikhail GRACHEV		West Coast Racing	Honda Civic TCR	8	2:19.253	3.012
14	20	Mario FERRARIS		Mulsanne Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	11	2:19.446	3.205
15	7	Davit KAJAIA		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	10	2:19.466	3.225
16	83	Tin SRITRAI		Team Thailand	Honda Civic TCR	3	2:21.032	4.791
17	68	Filipe Clemente DE SOUZA		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	10	2:21.111	4.870
18	72	Nicky PASTORELLI		FRD Racing Team	Ford Focus TCR	10	2:21.464	5.223
19	65	Douglas KHOO Kok Hui		Viper Niza Racing	SEAT León Cup Racer	12	2:21.984	5.743
20	27	Bill O’BRIEN		Teamwork Motorsport	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	5	2:25.358	9.117
21	3	Andy YAN Cheuk Wai		Liqui Moly Team Engstler	Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR	3	2:27.809	11.568
22	77	Sergey AFANASYEV		Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL	SEAT León TCR	3	2:28.740	12.499
23	35	Rafaël GALIANA		Target Competition	Honda Civic TCR	4	2:39.292	23.051