The Lynk & Co Cyan Racing cars topped both free practices of the Kumho FIA TCR World Tour with TCR South America on the wet track of El Pinar. Ma Qing Hua was fastest in the first session and local hero Santiago Urrutia in the second.
The first practice was run in prohibitive weather conditions, with pouring rain and cold wind. The session was disrupted three times by the red flag: after eight minutes when Fabio Casagrande’s Honda spun at T2, after twenty minutes when Norbert Michelisz’ Hyundai went off at T5 and just before the end when Yann Ehrlacher’s Lynk & Co went off at T2. Cyan Racing’s drivers filled the four spots of the timesheet, with Ma Qing Hua the fastest in 1:30.104 ahead of Ehrlacher (1:30.180), Urrutia (1:30.225) and Thed Björk (1:30.600). Mikel Azcona was best of the rest in fifth position with 1:31.205, while Juan Manuel Casella topped the TCR South America field with the tenth fastest lap.
Rain had stopped, though the track was still wet when the second practice started.
Urrutia, Björk, Ma and Ehrlacher alternated in the top three positions. Eventually Urrutia’s 1:27.119 was the fastest lap ahead of Ehrlacher (1:27.247) and Ma (1:27.555), with Néstor Girolami fourth (1:27.718) and Galid Osman sixth and first of TCR South America. The red flag was waved twice, after ten minutes when Matías Rossi’s Toyota went off at T12 and with seven minutes to go when Guilherme Reischl’s CUPRA stood stranded at T3.
The next session is qualifying at 15:05 local time (20:05 CEST).
Picture: TCR South America/Hernán Capa
