Comtoyou Racing’s Nathanaël Berthon was the fastest driver in the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup practice session at Vallelunga in Italy, as team-mate Gilles Magnus made it an Audi 1-2 at the top of the times.
Berthon was on top throughout the 45-minute session around the shorter variant of the Vallelunga circuit, lapping in 1 minute 15.284 seconds to edge out team-mate Magnus by 0.059 seconds.
Münnich Motorsport’s Néstor Girolami put his Honda in third, just over a tenth of a second adrift, ahead of Mehdi Bennani, who made it three out of four Comtoyou Audis in the top four.
Norbert Michelisz was the best of the BRC Racing Hyundai drivers in fifth, directly ahead of team-mate and championship leader Mikel Azcona in sixth, the latter almost exactly a quarter of a second off the top time.
Team Engstler’s Attila Tassi was seventh, ahead of Honda team-mate Tiago Monteiro in eighth, the Portuguese driver putting in some encouraging early weekend pace to make up for his lack of form in recent events.
The top ten was completed by Comtoyou Racing’s Tom Coronel and Zengő Motorsport’s Rob Huff, the latter being seven tenths off the pace.
Huff is the only CUPRA driver in the field this weekend, after regular team-mate Dániel Nagy has been advised to not participate due to the hand injury he sustained when he crashed out of the last event in Vila Real, although Zengő have also found his car is more damaged than initially thought as well.
No Lynk & Co drivers featured inside the top ten, with Cyan Racing’s best performer being Ma Qing Hua in 11th.
Reigning champion Yann Ehrlacher was just 13th, whilst the brand’s best ranked driver in the drivers’ championship, Santiago Urrutia, was 14th.
Thed Björk and Yvan Muller were slowest of all in 15th and 16th respectively, the latter over a second off the pace before causing a red-flag stoppage with seven minutes to go when he went off into the gravel at high-speed at Turn 2 following a suspected front-left tyre issue.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 11:15 BST (12:15 CEST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 17 |  |
Nathanaël BERTHON | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 22 | 1:15.284 | – |
| 2 | 16 |  |
Gilles MAGNUS | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 22 | 1:15.343 | 0.059 |
| 3 | 29 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 24 | 1:15.422 | 0.138 |
| 4 | 25 |  |
Mehdi BENNANI | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 22 | 1:15.435 | 0.151 |
| 5 | 5 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 32 | 1:15.488 | 0.204 |
| 6 | 96 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 32 | 1:15.530 | 0.246 |
| 7 | 9 | |
Attila TASSI | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 19 | 1:15.603 | 0.319 |
| 8 | 18 |  |
Tiago MONTEIRO | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 26 | 1:15.817 | 0.533 |
| 9 | 33 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 22 | 1:15.819 | 0.535 |
| 10 | 79 |  |
Rob HUFF | Zengő Motorsport Services Kft | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 24 | 1:16.000 | 0.716 |
| 11 | 55 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 23 | 1:16.040 | 0.756 |
| 12 | 86 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 26 | 1:16.093 | 0.809 |
| 13 | 68 | |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 16 | 1:16.245 | 0.961 |
| 14 | 12 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 21 | 1:16.286 | 1.002 |
| 15 | 11 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 1:16.312 | 1.028 |
| 16 | 100 | |
Yvan MULLER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 21 | 1:16.390 | 1.106 |