Cyan Racing’s Santiago Urrutia was the fastest driver in the opening FIA World Touring Car Cup practice session on the streets of Vila Real in Portugal, over two tenths clear of team-mate Yann Ehrlacher.
Uruguayan Urrutia was, along with Ehrlacher, one of only two drivers two post a lap time which was below the two-minute mark, as he acclimatised to the 4.79 kilometre circuit for the first time.
“I always say to learn a track you need to push, so that’s what I did,” said Urrutia. “The car is working well, everyone is taking it easy, but I feel good.
“The track is very fast and difficult, you run very close to the walls. It was a good session, now we must look through the data.”
Having had a particularly challenging weekend last time out in Aragón, Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Attila Tassi ended up as the best of the Hondas in third following a late improvement from the Hungarian.
Ma Qing Hua was fourth fastest, the Cyan driver ending up as the only other driver within a second of the pace.
Comtoyou Racing’s Mehdi Bennani was the top Audi driver in fifth, with the German cars carrying the maximum compensation weight this weekend – something which is shared by the Honda cars, which also have 40 kg on board.
Sixth-place Norbert Michelisz was the best of the Hyundai drivers, 1.5 seconds adrift, ahead of Cyan’s Thed Björk, who puts his Lynk & Co in seventh.
The top ten was completed by Hyundai’s championship leader Mikel Azcona, Cyan’s Yvan Muller, despite losing time with a mechanical issue, and the leading CUPRA of Zengő Motorsport’s Rob Huff.
All 17 drivers completed the session without major incident, with Tom Coronel, who is skipping TCR Europe this weekend where he is a title contender, last of all in 17th, over four seconds off the pace.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:00 WEST (12:00 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 17 | 1:59.612 | – |
| 2 | 68 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 16 | 1:59.880 | 0.268 |
| 3 | 9 |  |
Attila TASSI | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 14 | 2:00.389 | 0.777 |
| 4 | 55 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 2:00.584 | 0.972 |
| 5 | 25 |  |
Mehdi BENNANI | Comtoyou Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 17 | 2:00.975 | 1.363 |
| 6 | 5 | |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 2:01.153 | 1.541 |
| 7 | 11 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Performance Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 2:01.414 | 1.802 |
| 8 | 96 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 15 | 2:01.429 | 1.817 |
| 9 | 100 | |
Yvan MULLER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 2:01.437 | 1.825 |
| 10 | 79 |  |
Rob HUFF | Zengő Motorsport Services Kft | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 17 | 2:01.458 | 1.846 |
| 11 | 16 |  |
Gilles MAGNUS | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 18 | 2:01.512 | 1.900 |
| 12 | 17 | |
Nathanaël BERTHON | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 17 | 2:01.641 | 2.029 |
| 13 | 18 |  |
Tiago MONTEIRO | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 17 | 2:01.850 | 2.238 |
| 14 | 86 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 2:02.458 | 2.846 |
| 15 | 29 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 16 | 2:02.698 | 3.086 |
| 16 | 99 | |
Dániel NAGY | Zengő Motorsport Services Kft | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 17 | 2:03.476 | 3.864 |
| 17 | 33 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 17 | 2:03.623 | 4.011 |