Nikolay Karamyshev on top in disrupted practice at Paul Ricard
It was Russia’s Nikolay Karamyshev’s turn to the lead the Campos Chevrolet duo in the first practice session on Saturday, leading Ukrainian team-mate Igor Skuz by over six-tenths of a second with the BMW of Franz Engstler in third.
Karamyshev’s time of 1:35.447 was the best of the weekend so far for a TC2T class car. After Skuz, Engstler was the only other car to get within a second of the ex-works Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T.
Hungarian Norbert Kiss was again the pace setter as he was in the first test session in the Team Unicorse Alfa Romeo. Kiss was just 1.3 seconds off the pace of the Russian in the N.Technology-built 156 S2000.
The session was red flagged with just under ten minutes to go after PCR Sport’s Urs Sonderegger went off at Turn 1 and needed medical attention to leave the car, although the car itself had suffered minimal damage.
There were few improvements as the session resumed, with Andreas Pfister finishing on top in the Single-Make Trophy class, setting the seventh fastest time in his SEAT León Supercopa, and Ulrike Krafft leading the way in the Super 1600 class in her Ravenol Team Ford Fiesta 1.6.
Next up for the ETCC is qualifying at 13:10 CET.
