Target Competition’s John Filippi was the pace-setter in the first free practice session for the TCR Europe series at Zolder, lapping the Belgian circuit less than a tenth quicker than Dániel Nagy and Pepe Oriola.
Hyundai racer Filippi – who only last time out scored his maiden pole position in touring cars – lapped the circuit in a time of 1 minute 37.486 seconds.
“It’s a much better start than we had in France, but at the end of the Qualifying there we won the pole, so it’s a really good start,” said Filippi. “It’s good for my confidence and I hope the weekend will stay like this.
“Of course, we don’t know what the others did, if they used new tyres or if they really pushed, but I know where I am, and I cannot do much more.
“This was the only track where I tested before the season, so I was really confident coming here. Even with the 60 kg we are quite fast and so I think this is good news.”
It had been Brutal Fish Racing’s Oriola who was on top of the times for much of the session, posting a time of 1:38.154.
However, the Spaniard then lost out to both Filippi and BRC Racing’s Dániel Nagy late in the session, leaving him in third.
Nagy’s team-mate Mat’o Homola was fourth, six tenths off the pace, having been demoted down the order towards the end of the session, ahead of Target Competition’s Andreas Bäckman in fifth.
Former WTCC racer Mehdi Bennani was the top Audi driver in sixth, ahead of the second Brutal Fish Honda of Dan Lloyd in seventh, the Brit being the only other driver within a second of the pace.
Former TCR Germany racer Mike Halder was eighth in his self-run Honda, whilst the top ten was completed by Sami Taoufik’s Audi and Julien Briché’s Peugeot.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 16:20 CEST (15:20 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 27 | John FILIPPI |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 1:37.486 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 1:37.500 | 0.014 |
| 3 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 1:37.527 | 0.041 |
| 4 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:38.117 | 0.631 |
| 5 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 1:38.229 | 0.743 |
| 6 | 250 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 12 | 1:38.246 | 0.760 |
| 7 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 1:38.348 | 0.862 |
| 8 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 13 | 1:38.490 | 1.004 |
| 9 | 25 | Sami TAOUFIK | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 13 | 1:38.612 | 1.126 |
| 10 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 12 | 1:38.706 | 1.220 |
| 11 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 14 | 1:38.775 | 1.289 |
| 12 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 16 | 1:38.899 | 1.413 |
| 13 | 4 | Florian BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 1:38.924 | 1.438 |
| 14 | 20 | Teddy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 1:39.045 | 1.559 |
| 15 | 21 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 15 | 1:39.228 | 1.742 |
| 16 | 8 | Nicolas BAERT |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 7 | 1:39.334 | 1.848 |
| 17 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 14 | 1:39.341 | 1.855 |
| 18 | 66 | Gilles COLOMBANI | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 1:40.330 | 2.844 |
| 19 | 6 | Jean Laurent NAVARRO | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 1:40.337 | 2.851 |
| 20 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 14 | 1:40.713 | 3.227 |