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Azcona goes fastest as TCR World Tour FP1 at El Pinar is red flagged three times

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BRC Racing’s Mikel Azcona was fastest in a heavily disrupted first TCR World Tour practice session at El Pinar in Uruguay.

The session had already postponed from Friday to Saturday morning, and once it began there were repeated stoppages caused by drivers from the TCR South America championship which the World Tour is sharing a grid with this weekend.

Cyan Racing’s Thed Björk was fastest when the 30-car field headed out, then Néstor Girolami lowered the pace by over four seconds on the second laps as the track gripped up.

Azcona’s team-mate Norbert Michelisz knocked another a second off the pace with his third lap, setting a 1:23.450, then Girolami bettered it by 0.136s.

Girolami was first into 1:22 territory, and was bumped down to fourth place just before red flags waved 10 minutes into the half-hour session. Cyan’s Ma Qing Hua had set a 1:21.962 to lead team-mate Santiago Urrutia by 0.041s, with Azcona in third.

W2 Pro GP’s Galid Osman appeared to be the cause of the red flags, going off at Turn 2 and not making it back to the pits until long after everyone else.

The clock was stopped when the session did, meaning there were 19 minutes remaining when practice restarted. Urrutia managed to improve the pace several times until he reached 1:21.213, with several drivers occupying second place before Michelisz set a 1:21.447.

Red flags were then out again, this time after Girolami’s Squadra Martino team-mate Fabio Casagrande had an off at Turn 2, and Urrutia was quick to hit his marks again after the second restart as he set a 1:20.864. Most other drivers improved too with their first few laps out of the pits, but only a few were able to continue getting quicker.

Urrutia did not stay on top, as with just under five minutes to go Azcona went fastest with a 1:20.663. Girolami improved to 1:21.130 in third place, with Hua and Michelisz split by 0.004s in fourth and fifth and both half a second off the pace.

Cyan’s TCR World Tour leader Yann Ehrlacher was sixth fastest and the last driver within a second of Urrutia, while Juan Manuel Casella in ninth was the fastest TCR South America driver.

The session was stopped once more with two minutes remaining as Toyota driver Bernardo Llaver also got it wrong at Turn 2, and race control decided not to restart it.

The second free practice session starts at 11:30 local time/16:30 CEST.