Photo: TCR Series

Gianni Morbidelli leads second red flagged practice at Oschersleben

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WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli finished on top of the time sheets in the second and final practice session, which was red flagged twice, with incidents for both the Reno Racing Honda of Jens Reno Møller and the Ferry Monster SEAT of Danny Kroes.

Morbidelli was quick early on, and was one of just three drivers under the 1:33 mark as the track temperature increased for the second session compared to the morning practice, with Comtoyou Racing Audi driver Stefano Comini his closest challenger, just 0.052 seconds behind, with Daniel Lloyd three-tenths back in the Craft-Bamboo Racing SEAT León TCR.

Comini had just taken the top spot before the first red flag after ten minutes. The Swiss driver had just managed to hold on to his Audi RS 3 LMS after a slide out on track, while at Turn 10, Jens Reno Møller spun off into the gravel and beached his Honda Civic TCR.

The clock continued to countdown due to the curtailed timetable, with the session restarting with just over 13 minutes left.

Morbidelli then jumped to the fore, but the session soon ended when Danny Kroes, making his TCR International Series debut with Ferry Monster Autosport this weekend, crashed into the barriers, sustaining significant front-end damage to his SEAT León TCR, and with the barriers needing repair, the session was again red flagged and not resumed.

Comini finished the session second, followed by the three Craft-Bamboo SEATs of Dan Lloyd, Pepe Oriola and James Nash, with Davit Kajaia sixth in the GE-Force Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

Stian Paulsen was seventh in his SEAT, with Roberto Colciago the best-placed of all the Hondas in eighth, ahead of Team WRT Volkswagen driver Rob Huff and Mat’o Homola in the DG Sport Opel Astra.

Championship leader Attila Tassi finished 16th, suffering a puncture early in the session.

Qualifying is next and is scheduled for 15:00 CET.