Thed Björk remains on top in second Ningbo practice

Thed Björk lead a Hyundai 1-2-3 at the top of the times in second practice for the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) at the Ningbo International Speedpark in China, ahead of Gabriele Tarquini by 0.246 seconds.

YMR’s Björk went six tenths quicker than he had in the earlier first practice session, hitting the top of the times after around ten minutes initially with a lap of 1 minute 51.816 seconds before further improving by three tenths to end with a 1:51.514.

BRC Racing’s Tarquini was second, ahead of team-mate Norbert Michelisz, resulting in three of the four Hyundais leading the way.

Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch was once again amongst the quickest, being the best-placed Audi driver in fourth, ahead of team-mate Nathanaël Berthon in fifth.

Esteban Guerrieri was again the best of the Honda drivers in sixth, ahead of the best CUPRA of Zsolt Szabó in seventh, with the Zengő Motorsport driver putting in a surprise effort late in the session.

Jean-Karl Vernay, who had encountered technical issues in FP1, was eighth, although the Audi driver was involved in an incident with Campos Racing’s Pepe Oriola early on in the session which saw the Spaniard’s CUPRA pick up damage to his rear suspension after the pair made contact.

Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Ma Qing Hua and Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher completed the top ten.

After a power steering issue curtailed his first practice session, YMR’s Yvan Muller, in the only other Hyundai on the grid, posted the 12^th fastest time.

The next track action is first qualifying which takes place at 11:00 local time (04:00 BST, 05:00 CEST) on Saturday morning.

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	11	Thed BJÖRK		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	12	1:51.514	0.000
2	30	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	11	1:51.760	0.246
3	5	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	12	1:51.832	0.318
4	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS	11	1:51.873	0.359
5	23	Nathanaël BERTHON		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	12	1:51.924	0.410
6	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	10	1:51.966	0.452
7	66	Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	13	1:51.995	0.481
8	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	11	1:52.054	0.540
9	55	MA Qing Hua		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	12	1:52.082	0.568
10	68	Yann EHRLACHER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	1:52.293	0.779
11	31	Kevin CECCON		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	14	1:52.308	0.794
12	48	Yvan MULLER		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	14	1:52.412	0.898
13	20	Denis DUPONT		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	12	1:52.424	0.910
14	88	Fabrizio GIOVANARDI		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	12	1:52.637	1.123
15	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	12	1:52.654	1.140
16	25	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	12	1:52.715	1.201
17	12	Rob HUFF		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	11	1:52.841	1.327
18	42	Timo SCHEIDER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	12	1:52.908	1.394
19	7	Aurélien COMTE		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	12	1:52.931	1.417
20	8	Norbert NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	13	1:52.935	1.421
21	27	John FILIPPI		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	12	1:52.958	1.444
22	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	13	1:52.959	1.445
23	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	5	1:53.007	1.493
24	9	Tom CORONEL		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	12	1:53.207	1.693
25	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	13	1:54.070	2.556