Thed Björk leads Cyan Racing 1-2-3 in Free Practice Two

Thed Björk overcame technical trouble in Free Practice One to lead a Cyan Racing 1-2-3 in the second practice session of the Estoril WTCR weekend.

No timing issues on this occasion meant that Free Practice Two could get underway more or less as originally scheduled, though as the morning had progressed, the track temperature continued to rise. Plus, with more rubber having been laid down, the circuit evolution suggested that lap times in this session would be even quicker than they were in Practice One.

That didn’t quite transpire in the end, however, suggesting that there may still be some unknowns heading into qualifying later today.

Fresh from his second place finish in the opening practice session, Attila Tassi was the quickest driver after the first set of laps, despite battling a cold. Straight away, his lap time of 1:45.757 was much faster than the early pace that we saw in Free Practice One, though there was still some ground to make up on Urrutia’s eventual benchmark from that earlier session.

Tassi’s Hungarian compatriot Norbert Michelisz then knocked him off his perch after having found an extra few hundredths of a second, while Mikel Azcona was again showing strong early form in third.

Yvan Muller, meanwhile, was struggling with a severe lack of rear grip, which resulted in a sketchy trip through the track’s unforgiving gravel perimeter. Esteban Guerrieri was also in strife with fifteen minutes to go, having not yet set a flying lap time.

However, Björk finally had some good luck, and after an electrical problem in Practice One, was able to get some vital track time in this session to go sixth-fastest at the halfway stage.

The lap times then began to stagnate a little, until Guerrieri finally managed to put a time together. 1:45.407 elevated the Argentine three tenths of a second clear of Michelisz, though Urrutia’s FP1 benchmark still remained slightly out of touch.

Yann Ehrlacher then made big progress to go up to second place in the standings, which would provide the reigning champion with some optimism after a difficult start to the event this morning. However, like his uncle, Ehrlacher was also struggling with oversteer in the Lynk & Co.

Then, with five minutes to go, Björk went one better than his stablemate to move up to first, this time with a lap time of 1:45.302. Urrutia soon popped up in second place, before the pair of them were then split by the fourth Cyan Racing car of Muller.

As the chequered flag was waved, the Swedish team locked out the top three, thus raising a few eyebrows after their outburst regarding Balance of Performance in the build-up to this event.

Behind the Lynk & Co trio, Guerrieri wound up as the best Honda in fourth, with his team-mate Néstor Girolami only a few hundredths of a second slower in fifth.

Gabriele Tarquini went sixth-quickest as the best of the Hyundai contingent on this occasion, while the fourth Cyan Racing car of Ehrlacher eventually dropped to seventh.

Azcona went eighth-quickest for the second session in a row, having marked himself out as CUPRA’s most likely chance of success in qualifying later on today.

The Hyundai pairing of Michelisz and Jean-Karl Vernay rounded out the top ten.

Elsewhere, Audi were still struggling for outright performance, with Frédéric Vervisch the best of the bunch in thirteenth. However, just two thousandths of a second separated him from stablemates Nathanael Berthon and Gilles Magnus, which at least suggested that Audi’s drivers were equally matched around this Estoril circuit.

Rob Huff still wasn’t able to match Azcona’s form in the other CUPRA, with the returning Brit only managing a lap time good enough for eighteenth in this session.

Qualifying gets underway later on this afternoon at 15:00 local time.

Session results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	11		Thed BJÖRK	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	11	1:45.302	–
2	100		Yvan MULLER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	11	1:45.396	0.094
3	12		Santiago URRUTIA	Cyan Performance Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	11	1:45.398	0.096
4	86		Esteban GUERRIERI	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	11	1:45.407	0.105
5	29		Néstor GIROLAMI	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	10	1:45.443	0.141
6	3		Gabriele TARQUINI	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	12	1:45.475	0.173
7	68		Yann EHRLACHER	Cyan Racing Lynk & Co	Lynk & Co 03 TCR	11	1:45.507	0.205
8	96		Mikel AZCONA	Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	14	1:45.667	0.365
9	5		Norbert MICHELISZ	BRC Hyundai N LUKOIL Squadra Corse	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	12	1:45.714	0.412
10	69		Jean-Karl VERNAY	Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	13	1:45.720	0.418
11	9		Attila TASSI	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	13	1:45.757	0.455
12	18		Tiago MONTEIRO	ALL-INKL.DE Münnich Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR	6	1:45.859	0.557
13	22		Frédéric VERVISCH	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	13	1:46.087	0.785
14	16		Gilles MAGNUS	Comtoyou Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	11	1:46.089	0.787
15	17		Nathanaël BERTHON	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	10	1:46.089	0.787
16	19		Andreas BÄCKMAN	Target Competition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	14	1:46.259	0.957
17	28		Jordi GENÉ	Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	12	1:46.266	0.964
18	79		Rob HUFF	Zengő Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	12	1:46.433	1.131
19	55		Bence BOLDIZS	Zengő Motorsport Drivers’ Academy	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	13	1:46.691	1.389
20	32		Tom CORONEL	Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport	Audi RS3 LMS TCR	16	1:46.727	1.425
21	26		Jessica BÄCKMAN	Target Competition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	11	1:46.899	1.597
22	8		Luca ENGSTLER	Engstler Hyundai N Liqui Moly Racing Team	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	4	1:47.063	1.761