Klim Gavrilov lowers the benchmark in second practice

Volcano Motorsport’s Klim Gavrilov was fastest in the second TCR Europe practice session at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, the CUPRA driver lapping over eight tenths of a second faster than the afternoon’s earlier top time.

Russian racer Gavrilov hit the top of the timesheets with just over four minutes remaining of the half-hour session, edging out the earlier top driver of Franco Girolami by a mere 0.041 seconds.

Comtoyou Racing’s Girolami had himself been top of the times after around ten minutes in his Audi RS3, but ultimately his lap of 2 minutes 12.828 seconds was not quite fast enough to hold on to the top time.

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Jack Young was the leading Honda driver in third, just under three tenths off the pace. The Northern Irishman’s Halder Motorsport team-mates were not quite as rapid – with Michelle Halder the next quickest in 15^th, almost a second and a half off the pace, whilst brother Mike was down in 17^th.

Viktor Davidovski again put in an impressive effort to go fourth in his Comtoyou Racing Audi, four tenths off the pace.

Josh Files, who had failed to post a lap time in first practice, was fifth quickest as the best Hyundai driver, the Target Competition driver a fraction over half a second off the pace.

Comtoyou Racing’s Tom Coronel was sixth quickest in his Audi, ahead of the Janík Motorsport Hyundai of Mat’o Homola in seventh, who again beat his team-mate in the times.

Volcano Motorsport’s Isidro Callejas was eighth, ahead of the best Brutal Fish Racing Honda of Pepe Oriola in ninth.

Sébastien Loeb Racing’s John Filippi, who had been fastest in first practice, was only tenth fastest in the second session, improving his lap only by 0.054 seconds.

Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 09:38 CEST (08:38 BST) on Saturday morning, followed by race one at 13:40 CEST (12:40 BST) on Saturday.

Session results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	14		Klim GAVRILOV	Volcano Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	10	2:12.787	–
2	72		Franco GIROLAMI	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021	8	2:12.828	0.041
3	62		Jack YOUNG	Halder Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	10	2:13.078	0.291
4	110		Viktor DAVIDOVSKI	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021	11	2:13.200	0.413
5	99		Josh FILES	Target Motorsport	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	9	2:13.290	0.503
6	33		Tom CORONEL	Comtoyou Racing	Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021	8	2:13.309	0.522
7	70		Mat’o HOMOLA	Janík Motorsport	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	11	2:13.398	0.611
8	26		Isidro CALLEJAS	Volcano Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	10	2:13.421	0.634
9	74		Pepe ORIOLA	Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	12	2:13.444	0.657
10	27		John FILIPPI	Sébastien Loeb Racing	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	11	2:13.590	0.803
11	16		Evgenii LEONOV	Volcano Motorsport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	12	2:13.831	1.044
12	8		Nicola BALDAN	Target Competition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	13	2:13.886	1.099
13	44		Felice JELMINI	Target Competition	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	5	2:14.004	1.217
14	24		Jáchym GALÁŠ	Janík Motorsport	Hyundai Elantra N TCR	12	2:14.078	1.291
15	53		Michelle HALDER	Halder Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	10	2:14.242	1.455
16	17		Martin RYBA	Brutal Fish Racing Team	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	10	2:15.015	2.228
17	7		Mike HALDER	Halder Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR	11	2:15.085	2.298
18	81		Stéphane VENTAJA	Team Clairet Sport	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	13	2:15.153	2.366
19	3		Giacomo GHERMANDI	Lema Racing	CUPRA Leon Competición TCR	13	2:15.217	2.430
20	66		Gilles COLOMBANI	Team Clairet Sport	CUPRA TCR	13	2:15.651	2.864