Volcano Motorsport’s Isidro Callejas topped the times in the second TCR Europe free practice session on the streets of Nuremberg at the Norisring circuit, less than a tenth ahead of rookie Marco Butti.
Callejas had been part of the cause of the stoppage in the day’s earlier practice session, when his CUPRA was hit by Rubén Fernández’s Audi near the end, causing considerable damage to both cars.
However, after his team fixed the car in the four hours between sessions, Callejas was able to lap the German circuit in 1 minute 1.167 seconds, the times being slightly slower than earlier on due to the wet conditions.
“This free practice session has a particularly special meaning after what happened in FP1,” said Callejas. “Of course, it doesn’t mean anything in terms of performance because of the wet conditions and the fact that nobody was taking risks.
“It’s important to see that we are all working hard to be here. I’m delighted with the work the team did to repair the car; this result is for them.
“When it started to rain, I thought there was no sense in taking risks on a street circuit in the wet so I said to my engineer that I wanted to stop and see what happened. It was the correct decision because I knew the track wouldn’t improve.”
Élite Motorsport’s Butti had been near the top of the times throughout, and the Italian ultimately ended up just 0.014 seconds slower than the pace-setting Spanish teenager.
Championship leader Franco Girolami was just behind in his Audi, a tenth of a second off the pace, ahead of Comtoyou Racing team-mate Viktor Davidovski in fourth.
Mike Halder was the top Honda driver in fifth, beating Halder Motorsport team-mate Jack Young, the Northern Irishman ending up in sixth, having earlier been quickest in first practice.
Russian Klim Gavrilov put the next-best Volcano Motorsport CUPRA in seventh, ahead of Michelle Halder in eighth – ensuring that all three of the German team’s cars featured inside the top ten.
The best Hyundai was Target Competition’s Nicola Baldan in ninth, whilst Evgenii Leonov was tenth in the third of the Volcano CUPRAs.
Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 10:11 CEST (10:10 BST) on Saturday, followed by race one at 17:40 CEST (16:40 BST).
Session results
POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
1 | 26 | Isidro CALLEJAS | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 19 | 1:01.167 | – | |
2 | 111 | Marco BUTTI | Élite Motorsport by Comtoyou | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 21 | 1:01.181 | 0.014 | |
3 | 72 | Franco GIROLAMI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 23 | 1:01.274 | 0.107 | |
4 | 110 | Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 17 | 1:01.368 | 0.201 | |
5 | 7 | Mike HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 18 | 1:01.414 | 0.247 | |
6 | 62 | Jack YOUNG | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 22 | 1:01.656 | 0.489 | |
7 | 14 | Klim GAVRILOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 27 | 1:01.804 | 0.637 | |
8 | 53 | Michelle HALDER | Halder Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 1:01.804 | 0.637 | |
9 | 8 | Nicola BALDAN | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 23 | 1:01.847 | 0.680 | |
10 | 16 | Evgenii LEONOV | Volcano Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 23 | 1:02.321 | 1.154 | |
11 | 44 | Felice JELMINI | Target Competition | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 21 | 1:02.333 | 1.166 | |
12 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 21 | 1:02.383 | 1.216 | |
13 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | Aggressive Team Italia Asd | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 20 | 1:02.421 | 1.254 | |
14 | 27 | John FILIPPI | Sébastien Loeb Racing – Bardahl Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 25 | 1:02.478 | 1.311 | |
15 | 12 | Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | RC2 Junior Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 26 | 1:02.626 | 1.459 | |
16 | 3 | Giacomo GHERMANDI | Lema Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 26 | 1:02.746 | 1.579 | |
17 | 24 | Jáchym GALÁŠ | Janík Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 25 | 1:02.781 | 1.614 | |
18 | 39 | Stian PAULSEN | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 21 | 1:02.871 | 1.704 | |
19 | 37 | Sergio LÓPEZ | RC2 Junior Team | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 16 | 1:03.152 | 1.985 | |
20 | 34 | Patrick SING | RaceSing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 15 | 1:13.589 | 12.422 | |
21 | 99 | Josh FILES | Target Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |