Ma Qing Hua led a Cyan Racing top four in the opening FIA TCR World Tour free practice session at El Pinar in Uruguay, which was affected by heavy rain and red flag stoppages.
Ma posted his lap of 1 minute 30.104 seconds early on in the half-hour session, which had started late due to heavy rain, and no one other than his Lynk & Co team-mates could get within a second of the Chinese driver.
Two-time World Touring Car Cup champion Yann Ehrlacher was his closest challenger, just 0.076 seconds behind, ahead of the other Cyan blue cars of Santiago Urrutia in third and Thed Björk in fourth.
Ehrlacher ultimately caused the third of three red flag stoppages in the session, which saw proceeding brought to an early end a minute from the timer running to zero.
Fifth-placed Mikel Azcona led a trio of BRC Racing-run Hyundais, the Spaniard 1.101 seconds off Ma’s pace, ahead of reigning champion Norbert Michelisz in sixth and Néstor Girolami in seventh.
GOAT Racing duo Esteban Guerrieri and Dušan Borković were next up in eighth and ninth respectively in the best of the Hondas, whilst the top ten was completed by the fastest TCR South America driver of Squadra Martino’s Juan Manuel Casella, also in a new Honda.
The best of the CUPRA drivers was W2 Pro GP’s Galid Osman in 11th, ahead of the fastest Toyota of Cobra Racing’s Thiago Vivacqua in 12th, the only other driver within two seconds of the pace.
A couple of FIA TCR World Tour regulars struggled for pace in the wet – GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti was only 15th, whilst Volcano Motorsport’s John Filippi, in the sole Audi in the field, was only 21st out of the 25 cars.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:30 local time (16:30 BST, 17:30 CEST), followed by qualifying at 15:05 local time (19:05 BST, 20:05 CEST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:30.104 | – |
| 2 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:30.180 | 0.076 |
| 3 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:30.225 | 0.121 |
| 4 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:30.600 | 0.496 |
| 5 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:31.205 | 1.101 |
| 6 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 7 | 1:31.288 | 1.184 |
| 7 | 129 |  |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 8 | 1:31.316 | 1.212 |
| 8 | 186 | |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 6 | 1:31.491 | 1.387 |
| 9 | 62 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 8 | 1:31.668 | 1.564 |
| 10 | 60 | |
Juan Manuel CASELLA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 6 | 1:31.731 | 1.627 |
| 11 | 28 |  |
Galid OSMAN | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 8 | 1:31.879 | 1.775 |
| 12 | 7 | |
Thiago VIVACQUA | Cobra Racing Team | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:32.042 | 1.938 |
| 13 | 17 | |
Matías ROSSI | Toyota Team Argentina | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 7 | 1:32.263 | 2.159 |
| 14 | 77 | |
Raphael REIS | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 6 | 1:32.439 | 2.335 |
| 15 | 199 |  |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 7 | 1:32.516 | 2.412 |
| 16 | 43 | |
Pedro CARDOSO | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 7 | 1:32.755 | 2.651 |
| 17 | 47 | |
Norberto FONTANA | Squadra Martino Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 4 | 1:33.103 | 2.999 |
| 18 | 8 | |
Rafael SUZUKI | PMO Racing | Peugeot 308 TCR | 6 | 1:33.767 | 3.663 |
| 19 | 16 | |
Juan Ángel ROSSO | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 8 | 1:33.842 | 3.738 |
| 20 | 18 | |
Carlos SILVA | Paladini Racing | Toyota Corolla GRS TCR | 8 | 1:33.901 | 3.797 |
| 21 | 127 | |
John FILIPPI | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 7 | 1:34.183 | 4.079 |
| 22 | 15 | |
Enrique MAGLIONE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 6 | 1:34.523 | 4.419 |
| 23 | 34 | |
Fabio CASAGRANDE | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 7 | 1:35.509 | 5.405 |
| 24 | 37 | |
Guilherme REISCHL | W2 Pro GP | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 7 | 1:38.047 | 7.943 |
| 25 | 3 | |
Rodrigo BAPTISTA | Squadra Martino | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 5 | 1:38.536 | 8.432 |