Frédéric Vervisch goes fastest in second Wuhan practice

Comtoyou Racing’s Frédéric Vervisch set the pace in the second free practice session for the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in Wuhan, lapping the street circuit 0.143 seconds faster than Campos Racing’s FP1 pace-setter Pepe Oriola.

Vervisch went to the top of the times with just four minutes to go, the Audi driver’s lap being well over a second faster than the best time from the morning’s earlier session.

Oriola was again at the sharp end of the times, putting his CUPRA in second with a late effort, ahead of the leading WRT Audi of Gordon Shedden in third, the Scot putting in a time just under three tenths from the pace.

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Nathanaël Berthon had been quickest within the first ten minutes, and the Frenchman went even faster again towards the end of the half-hour session, leaving the Audi driver in fourth, ahead of Comtoyou Racing team-mate Aurélien Panis in fifth.

The only driver with Wuhan experience, Rob Huff, put his Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen in sixth, ahead of the second WRT Audi of Jean-Karl Vernay in seventh.

Kevin Ceccon was eighth in the leading Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo, giving the outfit a reason to be positive after Fabrizio Giovanardi had earlier damaged his car in FP1. Despite that, Giovanardi also took to the circuit in second practice, albeit as the slowest driver in the 25-car field.

Comtoyou Racing’s Denis Dupont and the second Volkswagen of Mehdi Bennani completed the top ten, with the former ensuring that all six Audis featured inside the top ten.

None of the Hyundai drivers featured in the top ten, with YMR’s Thed Björk the best of the i30 drivers in 11^th.

Once again championship leader Gabriele Tarquini was outside the points, putting his BRC Racing Hyundai in just 21^st on the timesheets, 1.861 seconds off the pace.

Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 10:30 local time (03:30 BST, 04:30 CEST) on Saturday.

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	22	Frédéric VERVISCH		Audi Sport Team Comtoyou	Audi RS3 LMS	13	1:22.795	0.000
2	74	Pepe ORIOLA		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	15	1:22.938	0.143
3	52	Gordon SHEDDEN		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	14	1:23.064	0.269
4	23	Nathanaël BERTHON		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	17	1:23.104	0.309
5	21	Aurélien PANIS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	15	1:23.111	0.316
6	12	Rob HUFF		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	15	1:23.118	0.323
7	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team	Audi RS3 LMS	16	1:23.285	0.490
8	31	Kevin CECCON		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	17	1:23.307	0.512
9	20	Denis DUPONT		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS	15	1:23.467	0.672
10	25	Mehdi BENNANI		Sébastien Loeb Racing	Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR	12	1:23.477	0.682
11	11	Thed BJÖRK		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	1:23.623	0.828
12	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	15	1:23.708	0.913
13	48	Yvan MULLER		YMR	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	1:23.733	0.938
14	7	Aurélien COMTE		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	18	1:23.766	0.971
15	55	MA Qing Hua		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	16	1:23.772	0.977
16	68	Yann EHRLACHER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	13	1:23.859	1.064
17	5	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	15	1:24.063	1.268
18	70	Mat’o HOMOLA		DG Sport Compétition	Peugeot 308 TCR	16	1:24.105	1.310
19	42	Timo SCHEIDER		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	16	1:24.179	1.384
20	27	John FILIPPI		Team Oscaro by Campos Racing	CUPRA TCR	15	1:24.611	1.816
21	30	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	16	1:24.656	1.861
22	66	Zsolt Dávid SZABÓ		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	11	1:24.798	2.003
23	9	Tom CORONEL		Boutsen Ginion Racing	Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR	16	1:24.814	2.019
24	8	Norbert NAGY		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA TCR	17	1:25.083	2.288
25	88	Fabrizio GIOVANARDI		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR	15	1:25.981	3.186