TCR Europe points leader Tom Coronel went fastest in the second free practice at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday afternoon, beating FP1 pace-setter Viktor Andersson by just 0.037 seconds.
Coronel, who had been fifth quickest in the early morning session, took until just a minute and a half from the end of the session to take the top time of 1 minute 49.959 seconds.
The Dutchman was thus just over two tenths of a second quicker than the Lynk & Co driver had been in first practice.
“That went quite well, although I had a lot of difficulties in the first session, so in the second session I was trying to be clever and be in the correct spots in the exits of the corners,” said Coronel.
“I outbraked myself twice in the first corner so perhaps I should behave myself a little more! Overall, if you know that you’re P1 in FP2 then at least you know you have a good car for qualifying.
“But there’s still time to find; I can find another two-tenths I think, so I feel quite confident. It’s going to be a close one, that’s for sure!”
Andersson had held the top time for five minutes prior to that point, but his effort of 1:49.996 wasn’t quite quick enough.
Kobe Pauwels, Coronel’s closest title challenger, was third quickest in his Comtoyou Audi, a mere 0.001 seconds further back, the Dutchman having posted his best time less than a minute before Andersson.
Comtoyou drivers also occupied the next three places, with Lewis Brown in fourth, John Filippi in fifth and Nicola Baldan in sixth.
ALM Motorsport’s Ruben Volt improved on his FP1 effort to go seventh in the field’s sole Honda, ahead of Comtoyou’s Viktor Davidovski in eighth.
The top ten was completed by Volcano Motorsport’s Daniel Tkachenko and Aggressive Team Italia’s Levente Losonczy, with series returnee Pepe Oriola again missing out on the top ten with 11th, albeit just under a second off the pace this time in his Audi.
Oriola actually beat RC2 Racing team-mate Rubén Fernández Gil, the Spaniard in 12th, a further sixth tenths back.
As in first practice, Romanian entrant Horia-Traian Chirigut again didn’t post a time.
Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 11:30 CEST on Saturday (10:30 BST). Race one follows later in the day at 17:55 CEST (16:55 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 34 |  |
Tom CORONEL | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:49.959 | – |
| 2 | 10 |  |
Viktor ANDERSSON | MA:GP | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 11 | 1:49.996 | 0.037 |
| 3 | 22 | |
Kobe PAUWELS | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 12 | 1:49.997 | 0.038 |
| 4 | 39 |  |
Lewis BROWN | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:50.091 | 0.132 |
| 5 | 27 |  |
John FILIPPI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:50.234 | 0.275 |
| 6 | 8 |  |
Nicola BALDAN | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:50.345 | 0.386 |
| 7 | 127 |  |
Ruben VOLT | ALM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:50.519 | 0.560 |
| 8 | 11 |  |
Viktor DAVIDOVSKI | Comtoyou Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:50.749 | 0.790 |
| 9 | 7 |  |
Daniel TKACHENKO | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:50.765 | 0.806 |
| 10 | 264 |  |
Levente LOSONCZY | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:50.924 | 0.965 |
| 11 | 74 |  |
Pepe ORIOLA | RC2 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 1:50.930 | 0.971 |
| 12 | 12 | |
Rubén FERNÁNDEZ Gil | RC2 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 1:51.511 | 1.552 |
| 13 | 293 | |
Mauro GUASTAMACCHIA | Aggressive Team Italia | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 1:52.717 | 2.758 |
| 14 | 33 |  |
Horia-Traian CHIRIGUT | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 0 | No time | N/A |