Mikel Azcona kept Hyundai on top of the times in the second FIA TCR World Tour practice session at Vallelunga, as the Spaniard edged out Volcano Motorsport’s John Filippi by 0.026 seconds.
Azcona had earlier been eighth fastest in first practice, but by improving his time by a tenth it was enough to top the times in the afternoon, which saw lap times around two tenths slower than earlier in the day.
Filippi was once again the leading Audi driver, the Corsican improving from third in FP1 to second in FP2, less than a tenth adrift.
Cyan Racing’s Yann Ehrlacher was the best of the Lynk & Co quartet, effectively matching his pace from earlier in the day to go third.
GOAT racing’s Marco Butti was this time ahead of team-mate Esteban Guerrieri to claim the top Honda position, three and a half tenths off Azcona.
Sami Taoufik made it two Volcano Audis in the top five, ahead of the next Hyundai of reigning champion Norbert Michelisz in sixth.
Ma Qing Hua put his Lynk & Co in seventh, ahead of Néstor Girolami’s Hyundai in eighth and Guerrieri’s Honda in ninth.
There was an impressive lap time by MM Motorsport’s Jacopo Cimenes, who was the only Coppa Italia competitor to split the TCR World Tour regulars, lapping good enough for tenth in his new Honda.
Cyan Racing duo Thed Björk and Santiago Urrutia were the only other drivers within a second of the pace in 11th and 12th respectively.
There was then a second gap to the next Coppa Italia driver, Victor Fernández Gil in 13th in his RC2-run Audi.
Qualifying is scheduled to take place at 11:20 CEST (10:20 BST) on Saturday morning.
Session results
POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
1 | 196 | Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 1:40.114 | – | |
2 | 127 | John FILIPPI | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:40.140 | 0.026 | |
3 | 168 | Yann EHRLACHER | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 11 | 1:40.219 | 0.105 | |
4 | 199 | Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:40.480 | 0.366 | |
5 | 212 | Sami TAOUFIK | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:40.483 | 0.369 | |
6 | 105 | Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:40.486 | 0.372 | |
7 | 155 | MA Qing Hua | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 12 | 1:40.502 | 0.388 | |
8 | 129 | Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:40.511 | 0.397 | |
9 | 186 | Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:40.561 | 0.447 | |
10 | 82 | Jacopo CIMENES | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:40.756 | 0.642 | |
11 | 111 | Thed BJÖRK | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 12 | 1:40.831 | 0.717 | |
12 | 112 | Santiago URRUTIA | Cyan Racing Lynk & Co | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 10 | 1:40.983 | 0.869 | |
13 | 41 | Victor FERNÁNDEZ Gil | Auto Club RC2 Valles | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:42.001 | 1.887 | |
14 | 5 | Demir ERÖGE | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 15 | 1:43.823 | 3.709 | |
15 | 34 | Ramazan KAYA | BF Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 10 | 1:44.479 | 4.365 | |
16 | 39 | Tony VERHULST | MM Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 13 | 1:44.652 | 4.538 | |
17 | 77 | Philipp MATTERSDORFER | Duller Motorsport | Opel Astra TCR | 16 | 1:45.830 | 5.716 | |
18 | 1 | Sandro PELATTI | PMA Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:45.930 | 5.816 | |
19 | 4 | Giulio VALENTINI | GRT Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 14 | 1:46.102 | 5.988 | |
20 | 15 | Filippo BARBERI | Aikoa Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 0 | No time | N/A |