Gilles Magnus lowers the benchmark in second practice

Comtoyou Racing’s Gilles Magnus lowered the benchmark time in the final FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) practice session at Circuit Zolder.

The Belgian impressed on home turf, clocking a best time of 1:36.065 in the Audi RS3 LMS to edge out team mate Nathanael Berthon by 0.137 seconds; the sister car of Tom Coronel was fourth quickest to complete a strong session for the squad.

They were split by Yvan Muller, the Cyan Racing challenger putting his Lynk & Co. into third overall despite clipping a tyre stack on the inside of the Kleine chicane near the end of the session, 0.2 seconds adrift of Magnus at the top of the time sheets.

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Muller’s team mate Thed Bjork rounded out the five fastest runners, just 0.006 seconds slower than Coronel.

Jean-Karl Vernay went two better than opening practice with sixth in the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta, whilst Attila Tassi matched his seventh place from yesterday in the leading Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R.

Yann Ehrlacher enjoyed an improved run to eighth, with Free Practice 1 pace setter Nestor Girolami ninth. Tiago Monteiro once again rounds out the top ten.

Jack Young was 13th fastest, but responsible for the session-ending red flag with two minutes left on the clock, the Brit spinning at the first corner.

His Vukovic Motorsport-run Renault Megane R.S. came to rest on the corner exit and couldn’t be restarted, bringing the session to an abrupt end.

The two BRC Racing Hyundai i30 N TCR cars provided the other notable result, with reigning champion Norbert Michelisz only 18th; team mate Gabriele Tarquini was a further half-second behind in 20th.

Competitive action begins with qualifying later this afternoon, the action scheduled to get underway at 13:00 (BST).

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	16	Gilles MAGNUS		Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	1:36.065	0.000
2	17	Nathanaël BERTHON		Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	12	1:36.202	0.137
3	100	Yvan MULLER		Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	13	1:36.302	0.237
4	31	Tom CORONEL		Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	1:36.312	0.247
5	11	Thed BJÖRK		Cyan Performance	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	11	1:36.318	0.253
6	69	Jean-Karl VERNAY		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	12	1:36.377	0.312
7	9	Attila TASSI		ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	12	1:36.460	0.395
8	68	Yann EHRLACHER		Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	12	1:36.511	0.446
9	29	Néstor GIROLAMI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	12	1:36.579	0.514
10	18	Tiago MONTEIRO		ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	10	1:36.596	0.531
11	12	Santiago URRUTIA		Cyan Performance	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	12	1:36.600	0.535
12	86	Esteban GUERRIERI		ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	11	1:36.660	0.595
13	7	Jack YOUNG		Vuković Motorsport	Renault Mégane RS TCR	12	1:36.880	0.815
14	8	Luca ENGSTLER		Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	12	1:37.050	0.985
15	96	Mikel AZCONA		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición	12	1:37.093	1.028
16	25	Luca FILIPPI		Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR	12	1:37.142	1.077
17	33	Dylan O’KEEFFE		Vuković Motorsport	Renault Mégane RS TCR	13	1:37.311	1.246
18	1	Norbert MICHELISZ		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	12	1:37.385	1.320
19	55	Bence BOLDIZS		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición	12	1:37.745	1.680
20	30	Gabriele TARQUINI		BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai i30 N TCR	12	1:37.934	1.869
21	88	Nicky CATSBURG		Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai i30 N TCR	12	1:38.157	2.092
22	99	Gábor KISMARTY-LECHNER		Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición	13	1:39.138	3.073