Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Niels Langeveld was the fastest driver in the first TCR Europe practice session of the weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, over half a second clear of PSS Racing’s Franco Girolami.
Langeveld, currently fourth in the championship and vying for third with Tom Coronel, posted a best effort of 1 minute 55.411 seconds around the Spanish Grand Prix circuit in his Hyundai Elantra N.
Girolami was the best Honda in second, albeit 0.605 seconds off the pace. The Argentine is vying with Mikel Azcona for the overall title this weekend, and will benefit from taking part in practice, which Azcona is missing due to also competing in the FIA World Touring Car Cup in the Czech Republic.
Brutal Fish Racing’s Martin Ryba was an impressive third fastest, a further two tenths back, ahead of the leading Peugeot of Teddy Clairet in fourth.
Viktor Davidovski put both of the PSS Hondas in the top five, whilst sixth-placed Jack Young was the only other driver within a second of the pace, as four of the top six cars emerged as Honda Civics.
SLR’s Sami Taoufik was seventh quickest in his Hyundai Elantra, ahead of the leading Audi of Nicolas Baert in eighth.
The top ten was completed by the third Brutal Fish Honda of Isidro Callejas and Janík Motorsport’s Mat’o Homola in his Hyundai i30 N.
Sergio López was the fastest of the series’ recent newcomers in 15th, the RC2 CUPRA driver just over two seconds off the pace.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 16:20 CEST (15:20 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 |  |
Niels LANGEVELD | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 1:55.411 | – |
| 2 | 72 |  |
Franco GIROLAMI | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 14 | 1:56.016 | 0.605 |
| 3 | 17 |  |
Martin RYBA | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | 1:56.284 | 0.873 |
| 4 | 20 |  |
Teddy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 13 | 1:56.288 | 0.877 |
| 5 | 110 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | PSS Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 14 | 1:56.375 | 0.964 |
| 6 | 62 |  |
Jack YOUNG | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 14 | 1:56.399 | 0.988 |
| 7 | 25 |  |
Sami TAOUFIK | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:56.433 | 1.022 |
| 8 | 8 |  |
Nicolas BAERT | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 11 | 1:56.521 | 1.110 |
| 9 | 26 |  |
Isidro CALLEJAS | Brutal Fish Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | 1:56.567 | 1.156 |
| 10 | 70 | |
Mat’o HOMOLA | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 13 | 1:56.605 | 1.194 |
| 11 | 21 | |
Jimmy CLAIRET | Team Clairet Sport | Peugeot 308 TCR | 11 | 1:56.617 | 1.206 |
| 12 | 250 | |
Mehdi BENNANI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:56.628 | 1.217 |
| 13 | 44 |  |
Felice JELMINI | Sébastien Loeb Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:57.386 | 1.975 |
| 14 | 77 | |
Sylvain PUSSIER | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:57.476 | 2.065 |
| 15 | 101 |  |
Sergio LÓPEZ | RC2 Junior Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 1:57.501 | 2.090 |
| 16 | 24 | |
Jáchym GALÁŠ | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 6 | 1:57.573 | 2.162 |
| 17 | 16 |  |
Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 14 | 1:57.648 | 2.237 |
| 18 | 14 | |
Klim GAVRILOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 13 | 1:57.735 | 2.324 |
| 19 | 162 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 10 | 1:57.846 | 2.435 |
| 20 | 66 | |
Gilles COLOMBANI | Team Clairet Sport | CUPRA TCR | 13 | 1:58.318 | 2.907 |
| 21 | 3 | |
Giacomo GHERMANDI | Lema Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 15 | 1:59.205 | 3.794 |
| 22 | 19 | |
Felipe FERNÁNDEZ Gil | RC2 Junior Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 7 | 2:01.937 | 6.526 |
| 23 | 96 | |
Mikel AZCONA | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |
| 24 | 32 | |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |