Championship leader Mike Halder took the fastest time of the second TCR Europe practice session at a wet Spa-Francorchamps.
Halder had been lying behind 2018 champion Mikel Azcona on the leaderboard until his final lap where he set the session best time of 2 minutes 55.481.
As for series returnee Azcona, who had been leading for nearly all of the 30-minute session before Halder leapfrogged him late on, his performance showed what he is capable of after not setting a time in yesterdays opening session.
The WTCR regular was just 0.071 seconds behind Halder in the Volcano Motorsport CUPRA TCR, with the impressive Nicola Baldan setting the third quickest time in the newer CUPRA Leon Competición.
2017 TCR Italy series winner Baldan continued his strong start to the weekend and he finished the session just 0.106 seconds behind Azcona, with Teddy Clairet and John Fillipi completing the top five in FP2.
Andreas Backmann, who was second fastest in first practice, was sixth fastest for Target Competition ahead of second in the championship standings Mehdi Bennani.
Eighth went to the second Team Clairet Sport Peugeot of Jimmy Clairet, with Evgenii Leonov in another of the Volcano Motorsport CUPRA’s and Nicolas Baert rounding out the top 10 on Friday morning.
Dan Lloyd meanwhile, who was the leading driver in opening free practice, could only manage 18th on Friday morning in the Brutal Fish Racing Team Honda.
Another driver to struggle was ComToYou Racing’s Sami Taoufik. The Moroccan only completed one lap in the whole of the session and was the only driver not to be classified.
Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps is set to take place later today at 12:10 CEST (11:10 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 7 | Mike HALDER |  |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 2:55.481 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 96 | Mikel AZCONA |  |
Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:55.552 | 0.071 |
| 3 | 18 | Nicola BALDAN |  |
Elite Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 10 | 2:55.658 | 0.177 |
| 4 | 20 | Teddy CLAIRET |  |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 2:56.160 | 0.679 |
| 5 | 27 | John FILIPPI | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:56.796 | 1.315 |
| 6 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:56.917 | 1.436 |
| 7 | 250 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 7 | 2:56.942 | 1.461 |
| 8 | 21 | Jimmy CLAIRET | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 2:57.287 | 1.806 |
| 9 | 16 | Evgenii LEONOV |  |
Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 9 | 2:57.367 | 1.886 |
| 10 | 8 | Nicolas BAERT |  |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | 2:57.459 | 1.978 |
| 11 | 31 | Tom CORONEL |  |
Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 9 | 2:57.474 | 1.993 |
| 12 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:58.000 | 2.519 |
| 13 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:58.106 | 2.625 |
| 14 | 24 | Julien BRICHÉ | |
JSB Compétition | Peugeot 308 TCR | 9 | 2:58.208 | 2.727 |
| 15 | 33 | José Manuel SAPAG |  |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 2:58.646 | 3.165 |
| 16 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
Target Competition | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 10 | 2:58.993 | 3.512 |
| 17 | 99 | Dániel NAGY |  |
BRC Racing Team | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 2:59.068 | 3.587 |
| 18 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD |  |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 2:59.181 | 3.700 |
| 19 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | |
Profi Car Team Halder | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 9 | 3:03.244 | 7.763 |
| 20 | 17 | Martin RYBA | |
Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 8 | 3:03.542 | 8.061 |
| 21 | 81 | Stéphane VENTAJA | |
Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 7 | 3:09.542 | 14.061 |
| 22 | 25 | Sami TAOUFIK | |
Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 1 | No time | N/A |