Santiago Urrutia lead a Lynk & Co Cyan Racing top three in the opening FIA TCR World Tour practice session at the Zhouzhou circuit in China, with Ma Qing Hua just 0.036 seconds behind.
The Lynk & Co cars were the class of the field on home soil, as the 28-strong field, in conjunction with TCR China, took to the circuit in Hunan Province.
International-level touring cars have never previously raced on the Zhouzhou International Circuit, which opened in 2019, but TCR China has been a regular, with the series racing at the track 16 times since then, with an additional four races branded as TCR Asia in 2022.
Two-time FIA WTCR champion Yann Ehrlacher was third quickest, three tenths behind his team-mates.
MacPro Racing’s Martin Xie was both the leading Honda driver in fourth and also the best-placed TCR China driver, just under half a second off the pace.
Series returnee Rob Huff put his Volcano Motorsport Audi in fifth, as the Brit reacquaints himself to the world stage which will also see him target a record-breaking win in next month’s Guia race in Macau.
The fourth Cyan Racing car of Thed Björk was sixth, the only other driver within a second of Urrutia.
GOAT Racing’s Marco Butti put his Honda in seventh, ahead of TCR China championship leader Jason Zhang in eighth, the Teamwork Lynk & Co driver also being the most winning driver around the circuit with five wins to his name.
The top ten was completed by the Teamwork Lynk & Co of David Zhu and GOAT Racing’s Esteban Guerrieri.
The Hyundai drivers seemed to lack a little pace in the early running, with reigning champion Norbert Michelisz putting his BRC Elantra in 12th, a place behind GOAT Racing’s Dušan Borković, whilst team-mates Néstor Girolami and Mikel Azcona were only 14th and 15th.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 15:00 local time (08:00 BST, 09:00 CEST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 112 |  |
Santiago URRUTIA | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 9 | 1:45.198 | – |
| 2 | 155 |  |
MA Qing Hua | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 12 | 1:45.234 | 0.036 |
| 3 | 168 |  |
Yann EHRLACHER | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 8 | 1:45.512 | 0.314 |
| 4 | 55 | |
Martin XIE Xin Xie | MacPro Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 10 | 1:45.690 | 0.492 |
| 5 | 179 |  |
Rob HUFF | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 14 | 1:45.897 | 0.699 |
| 6 | 111 |  |
Thed BJÖRK | Lynk & Co Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co 03 FL TCR | 12 | 1:45.956 | 0.758 |
| 7 | 199 |  |
Marco BUTTI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 12 | 1:46.273 | 1.075 |
| 8 | 36 | |
Jason ZHANG Zhi Qiang | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 12 | 1:46.302 | 1.104 |
| 9 | 9 | |
David ZHU Dai Wei | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 10 | 1:46.397 | 1.199 |
| 10 | 186 |  |
Esteban GUERRIERI | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:46.398 | 1.200 |
| 11 | 62 |  |
Dušan BORKOVIĆ | GOAT Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:46.407 | 1.209 |
| 12 | 105 |  |
Norbert MICHELISZ | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:46.453 | 1.255 |
| 13 | 51 | |
WU Yi Fan | 326 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:46.510 | 1.312 |
| 14 | 129 | |
Néstor GIROLAMI | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 9 | 1:46.695 | 1.497 |
| 15 | 196 |  |
Mikel AZCONA | BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 11 | 1:46.721 | 1.523 |
| 16 | 1 | |
Martin CAO Hong Wei | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 10 | 1:46.766 | 1.568 |
| 17 | 127 | |
John FILIPPI | Volcano Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 11 | 1:46.940 | 1.742 |
| 18 | 28 |  |
LO Sze Ho | Evolve Racing | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 14 | 1:46.982 | 1.784 |
| 19 | 7 | |
DENG Bao Wei | MacPro Racing Team | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 13 | 1:47.037 | 1.839 |
| 20 | 12 | |
Sunny WONG Yat Shing | Lynk & Co Teamwork Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 12 | 1:47.280 | 2.082 |
| 21 | 37 | |
ZHOU Yun Jie | Spark Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 14 | 1:47.593 | 2.395 |
| 22 | 27 | |
CHAN Chun Leung | Norris Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 11 | 1:47.685 | 2.487 |
| 23 | 2 | |
Rainey HE Xiaole | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 12 | 1:47.848 | 2.650 |
| 24 | 52 | |
LAI Jing Wen | 326 Racing Team | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 13 | 1:47.985 | 2.787 |
| 25 | 87 | |
MAN Siu Ming | Evolve Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 14 | 1:48.012 | 2.814 |
| 26 | 95 | |
HU Heng | GYT Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 8 | 1:48.339 | 3.141 |
| 27 | 26 | |
Tony CHAN Chi Wai | Norris Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 10 | 1:48.619 | 3.421 |
| 28 | 3 | |
Andy YAN Cheuk Wai | Hyundai N | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 13 | 1:48.788 | 3.590 |