Target Competition’s Mat’o Homola led an all-Hyundai top six to take the honours in the opening practice session of the TCR Europe season finale at Monza.
The Hyundais made a strong start despite being joint-heaviest cars with the Hondas this weekend as Homola headed M1RA Motorsport racer Luca Engstler by just over a tenth, posting a best time of 1.57.488 to top the session.
Behind Engstler was the remainder of the Target-run Hyundais, with standings leader Josh Files in third position ahead of Andreas Bäckman – who still remains in mathematical contention of the title – but sits 83 points adrift of Files and out of a realistic title bid.
Dominik Bauman was next ahead of Jessica Bäckman, who sat over six tenths adrift of Homola’s benchmark as the last of the Target Competition machines.
The first non-Hyundai runner was Gilles Magnus in his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS, albeit some 0.812s off the overall pace.
Making it eight Hyundais in the top ten was Natan Bihel and Luca Filippi, the M Racing and BRC Racing Team runners placing eighth and ninth respectively.
Completing the top ten for Team WRT was Santiago Urrutia, just ahead of fellow Audi runner Sami Taoufik.
Notably, title contender Julien Briché sat 14th in his Peugeot 308 TCR ahead of Guilherme Salas’ Renault Megane RS, while series returnee Stian Paulsen’s CUPRA was 16th.
Second practice for the TCR Europe season finale at Monza is scheduled to get underway at 16:20 CEST [15:20 BST].
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:57.488 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 8 | Luca ENGSTLER |  |
M1RA Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:57.590 | 0.102 |
| 3 | 9 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:57.617 | 0.129 |
| 4 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:57.876 | 0.388 |
| 5 | 58 | Dominik BAUMANN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:58.051 | 0.563 |
| 6 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:58.129 | 0.641 |
| 7 | 16 | Gilles MAGNUS |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:58.300 | 0.812 |
| 8 | 25 | Natan BIHEL |  |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 11 | 1:58.337 | 0.849 |
| 9 | 30 | Luca FILIPPI |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 12 | 1:58.505 | 1.017 |
| 10 | 55 | Santiago URRUTIA |  |
Team WRT | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:58.609 | 1.121 |
| 11 | 15 | Sami TAOUFIK |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 8 | 1:58.676 | 1.188 |
| 12 | 45 | Gianni MORBIDELLI | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 10 | 1:58.702 | 1.214 |
| 13 | 7 | Aurélien COMTE | |
DG Sport Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:58.719 | 1.231 |
| 14 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 1:58.842 | 1.354 |
| 15 | 85 | Guilherme SALAS |  |
Vuković Motorsport | Renault Mégane RS TCR | 12 | 1:59.195 | 1.707 |
| 16 | 34 | Stian PAULSEN |  |
Stian Paulsen Racing | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 1:59.225 | 1.737 |
| 17 | 88 | Maxime POTTY | |
Team WRT | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:59.297 | 1.809 |
| 18 | 10 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKY |  |
PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 6 | 1:59.356 | 1.868 |
| 19 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 11 | 1:59.459 | 1.971 |
| 20 | 14 | Klim GAVRILOV |  |
VRC Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:59.522 | 2.034 |
| 21 | 112 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 1:59.538 | 2.050 |
| 22 | 96 | Abdulla Ali AL-KHELAIFI |  |
QMMF Racing by PCR Sport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:59.845 | 2.357 |
| 23 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 7 | 1:59.862 | 2.374 |
| 24 | 23 | Tamás TENKE |  |
Zengő Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 12 | 1:59.946 | 2.458 |
| 25 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 11 | 1:59.963 | 2.475 |
| 26 | 46 | Olli KANGAS |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 11 | 1:59.980 | 2.492 |
| 27 | 111 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 2:00.100 | 2.612 |
| 28 | 91 | Grigoriy BURLUTSKIY | |
Carville Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 12 | 2:00.297 | 2.809 |
| 29 | 22 | Josh BURDON |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 6 | 2:01.162 | 3.674 |
| 30 | 117 | Albert LEGUTKO |  |
Legutko Racing – ADAC Berlin | Honda Civic Type R FK2 TCR | 12 | 2:01.736 | 4.248 |
| 31 | 18 | Paul IP Kung Ching |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:06.837 | 9.349 |
| 32 | 21 | Marie BAUS-COPPENS | |
JSB Compétition | CUPRA TCR | 4 | 2:33.526 | 36.038 |
| 33 | 12 | Nelson PANCIATICI | |
M Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 2 | 2:40.562 | 43.074 |
| 34 | 50 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type R FK8 TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |