M Racing’s Nelson Panciatici led a Hyundai 1-2-3 in the first practice session for the TCR Europe series at the Hungaroring, ahead of M1RA’s Dániel Nagy and Target Competition’s Josh Files.
Frenchman Panciatici hit the top of the times around the half-way stage of the session, posting a time of 1 minute 53.761 seconds to end up around eight tenths slower than the best time in the WTCR’s earlier practice session.
Hungarian racer Nagy was second, just half a tenth slower, ahead of Brit Files in third, with the top three Hyundai drivers covered by less than a tenth of a second.
Comtoyou Racing’s Gilles Magnus was the best Audi driver in fourth, whilst Jessica Bäckman beat her brother in the first session of the year to end up in fifth, ahead of Target team-mate Mat’o Homola in sixth.
WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli had set the early pace in the session, with a lap of 1 minute 54.094 seconds after just under ten minutes, but the Italian slipped back to seventh as he failed to improve in the second half of the session.
Andreas Bäckman was eighth fastest, ahead of fellow Hyundai racer Luca engstler in ninth. In all, seven of the ten Hyundais entered made it into the top ten.
The top ten was completed by the Peugeot 308 of DG Sport’s Aurélien Comte, with the Frenchman being just over half a second from the pace.
The most notable incident of the session was when Milovan Vesnić stopped on the circuit in the second sector after ten minutes, prompting a short full-course yellow.
Team WRT’s Santiago Urrutia was 13th fastest in his Audi, ahead of team-mate Maxime Potty in the Volkswagen in 14th.
The best of the TCR Eastern Europe drivers was Czech racer Jáchym Galáš in 27th in his Volkswagen Golf.
Second practice takes place at 13:45 CEST (12:45 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI |  |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:53.761 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:53.814 | 0.053 |
| 3 | 9 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:53.846 | 0.085 |
| 4 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:53.924 | 0.163 |
| 5 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:53.988 | 0.227 |
| 6 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:53.996 | 0.235 |
| 7 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 1:54.094 | 0.333 |
| 8 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:54.122 | 0.361 |
| 9 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 1:54.232 | 0.471 |
| 10 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:54.281 | 0.520 |
| 11 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 7 | 1:54.459 | 0.698 |
| 12 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:54.638 | 0.877 |
| 13 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:54.680 | 0.919 |
| 14 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:54.706 | 0.945 |
| 15 | 2 | Stéphane LEMERET | |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:54.852 | 1.091 |
| 16 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:54.861 | 1.100 |
| 17 | 3 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
PCR Sport with Georgia | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:54.989 | 1.228 |
| 18 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 12 | 1:55.110 | 1.349 |
| 19 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI | |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:55.334 | 1.573 |
| 20 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 1:55.470 | 1.709 |
| 21 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 1:55.535 | 1.774 |
| 22 | 25 | Natan BIHEL | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:55.560 | 1.799 |
| 23 | 5 | Alex MORGAN | |
Wolf-Power Racing | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 10 | 1:55.662 | 1.901 |
| 24 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKI |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 1:55.677 | 1.916 |
| 25 | 44 | Lilou WADOUX | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:55.889 | 2.128 |
| 26 | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI |  |
QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:56.229 | 2.468 |
| 27 | 324 | Jáchym GALÁŠ |  |
GT2 Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 7 | 1:56.339 | 2.578 |
| 28 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 13 | 1:56.459 | 2.698 |
| 29 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 1:57.514 | 3.753 |
| 30 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:57.579 | 3.818 |
| 31 | 377 | Jakub WYSZOMIRSKY |  |
ASK Vesnić | Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR | 12 | 1:57.589 | 3.828 |
| 32 | 332 | Rudi PEŠOVIĆ | |
GM Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:58.465 | 4.704 |
| 33 | 307 | Maciej ŁASKIEWICZ | |
RTM Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 1:58.898 | 5.137 |
| 34 | 322 | Carol WITTKE | |
Fullinrace Academy | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:58.979 | 5.218 |
| 35 | 376 | Petr ČíŽEK | |
Fullinrace Academy | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:59.107 | 5.346 |
| 36 | 374 | Žarko KNEGO |  |
Auto Klub Dubrovnik Racing | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:59.892 | 6.131 |
| 37 | 331 | Milovan VESNIĆ | |
ASK Vesnić | CUPRA TCR | 3 | 2:06.033 | 12.272 |