Mikel Azcona heads Thed Björk in close second practice at Mid-Ohio

Mikel Azcona headed Thed Björk and Norbert Michelisz in a close second free practice session of the FIA TCR World Tour weekend at Mid-Ohio where the top three were separated by 61 thousands of a second.

Lap times dropped by more than a second compared to the first session as more rubber has been laid down on the newly repaved surface.

BRC Hyundai driver Azcona lapped the circuit in 1:28.746, beating Lynk & Co’s Björk by 0.057 seconds and team-mate Michelisz, who set his time on his last lap. by 0.061 seconds.

Ma Qing Hua (Lynk & Co) made a late improvement to fourth position ahead of team-mate Santiago Urrutia, who will start from the back of the grid in Race 1, in fifth, 0.247 seconds from the top time.

Néstor Girolami put his Hyundai Elantra N TCR in sixth position ahead of the top Honda driver in the form of Esteban Guerrieri in seventh place. Yann Ehrlacher, who also will start from the back of the grid due to an engine change penalty, rounded off the top eight, six tenths from the top time.

Ehrlacher carries 30kg of compensation weight this weekend while Urrutia carries 40kg, Girolami 30kg, Ma 20kg and John Filippi 10kg.

Qualifying starts at 16:25 local time/22:25 CEST.