Ma Qing Hua on top in red flagged shakedown at a slippery El Pinar
TCR World Tour drivers did manage to get on track at El Pinar late on Friday afternoon, and their shakedown session proved dramatic but important.
The dirtiness of the Uruguayan track following construction works meant lap times were constantly improving as drivers swept the surface clean, saving having to do the same job in free practice on Saturday morning.
While the cool conditions were representative of what is to come later in the weekend, the order on the timesheet was not entirely representative given the de facto non-competitive nature of shakedowns.
However it was the visiting international drivers who were fastest, with Cyan Racing duo Ma Qing Hua and Yann Ehrlacher split by 0.098 seconds at the top. A further 0.201s behind was their team-mate Santiago Urrutia, then TCR South America leader Ignacio Montenegro was 0.762s off the pace in fourth place.
They all improved on their final lap, set as the chequered flag waved, with Honda driver Nestor Girolami the only other driver within a second of Hua and one of few who were unable to finish.
Mikel Azcona was seventh fastest but spent a chunk of the session in the pits, and several other drivers did not take the chequered flag after two red flag periods.
Two of those not to see the end of shakedown were Fabio Casagrande and Damian Fineschi, who were out of action entirely as they were not setting laps but also not back in the pits.
The first free practice session of the weekend starts at 08:30 local time/13:30 CEST.
