Thed Björk leads Lynk & Co 1-2 in final practice in the Netherlands
Thed Björk topped the time sheets in the second and final practice session on Friday in his Cyan Racing Lynk & Co 03 TCR, finishing just under a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Yann Ehrlacher. Norbert Michelisz completed the top three in his BRC Racing Team Hyundai i30 N TCR.
Björk’s best time was set shortly before the half-way point in the session, while many fought to beat it during the closing stages.
The Swedish driver had taken the top spot from home hero Tom Coronel, who again showed strong pace in his Comtoyou Racing Cupra TCR.
Björk’s first challenge came from fellow Swede Johan Kristoffersson, who ended up the fastest of Volkswagen drivers in fourth, but was briefly up to second, before late improvements from Michelisz and Ehrlacher.
Ehrlacher and Michelisz were both within a tenth of a second of Björk’s pace, while Kristoffersson was just three-tenths off, just ahead of his Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Benjamin Leuchter, who made a late improvement to go fifth.
Aurélien Panis would end up as the best-placed Cupra driver in sixth, just ahead of his Comtoyou Racing team-mate Tom Coronel, with Daniel Haglöf’s Cupra eighth.
Esteban Guerrieri was the fastest of the Honda drivers in ninth, just under half a second back, while the best Audi was that of Jean-Karl Vernay in 11th.
The Alfa Romeos again struggled, with Team Mulsanne’s Kevin Ceccon leading team-mate Ma Qing Hua in 17th and 18th respectively.
Championship leader Néstor Girolami was 13th fastest in his Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic TCR, while reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini was slowest of all in 26th in his Hyundai, 1.5 seconds off the pace.
Qualifying is next and is scheduled for 08:05 CEST on Saturday morning.