Néstor Girolami sets TCR Europe FP2 pace at Paul Ricard

PSS Racing’s Néstor Girolami set the quickest time in the second TCR Europe series free practice session of the Paul Ricard weekend.

The Honda driver, stepping in as a guest entry in place of regular Viktor Davidovski this weekend, struck late on with a time of 2:13.332 to go nearly four-tenths faster than the Team Clairet Sport Peugeot 308TCR of Teddy Clairet.

Profi Car Team Halder’s Mike Halder was another to punch in a late flying lap to go third in his Honda Civic Type R FK8. The German was just six-thousandths of a second behind Clairet.

Clairet had been the dominant pace-setter for much of the session, having held an advantage of over seven-tenths of a second from the Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS of Sami Taoufik.

But Girolami, much like the BRC Racing Team Hyundai of Dáni Nagy in the first session, profited from the enhanced grip at the end of the 35-minute session to go fastest.

Taoufik was the first driver to set a representative time in his Audi, with a 2m14.569, heading Halder by just five-hundredths.

The times began to get quicker and quicker, with Teddy Clairet moving to the top just after the mid-point of the session, gapping Taoufik by a whopping seven-tenths of a second.

Brother Jimmy Clairet was the only other driver to get close to that time, moving to within a tenth inside the final 10 minutes before Girolami and Halder’s improvements. Jimmy finished the session fourth quickest.

A flurry of action in the closing two minutes meant that times tumbled quickly. Jimmy Clairet joined his brother as the only other car to make it into the 2:13s, just a tenth of a second slower than Teddy.

The Brutal Fish Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCR of Pepe Oriola also improved late on to go sixth, just behind Taoufik’s Audi.

Behind Oriola with FP1 pace-setter Nagy seventh in his Hyundai i30 N TCR.

Having finished the opening session 14th in the other Profi Car Team Halder Honda, Michelle Halder enjoyed better fortunes in FP2, ending up eighth quickest, just five-hundredths of a second adrift of Nagy.

The best of the Target Competition Hyundai i30 N TCRs was John Filippi in ninth; the Frenchman was 1.243 seconds slower than Girolami’s fastest time.

JSB Compétition’s Julien Briché rounded out the top 10 in his Peugeot 308TCR.

Of those who suffered drama in opening practice, Tom Coronel – who damaged the splitter on his Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda Civic Type-R TCR after striking the kerbs – finished FP2 in 20th place, while Jean-Laurent Navarro managed to make it out after an ECU issue sidelined the Frenchman in the JSB Compétition Peugeot in the morning.

Next up for TCR Europe is qualifying which is scheduled to take place tomorrow at 09:00 CEST.