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Practice report

Zandvoort WTCR: Hyundais struggle in practice after BoP hit

Munnich Motorsport pair Esteban Guerrieri and Yann Ehrlacher locked out the top two positions in both of Saturday's World Touring Car Cup practice sessions at Zandvoort.

Thed Björk, YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR

Thed Björk, YMR Hyundai i30 N TCR

WTCR

Fresh from his first win of the season at last weekend's Nurburgring Nordschleife round, Guerrieri set the fastest time in either of the sessions - which represent Saturday's only WTCR activity at Zandvoort - with a 1m44.300s lap in FP2.

Ehrlacher jumped up to second late on in the session in his similar Honda, lapping just over a tenth of a second slower than his teammate.

That result marked a reversal of the pair's FP1 result - with Ehrlacher, the nephew of four-time World Touring Car champion Yvan Muller, pipping Guerrieri by 0.032 seconds on that occasion.

Aurelien Comte put in two eye catching performances in his DG Sport Peugeot, finishing the two half-hour practices fourth and third respectively.

The Frenchman was beaten to the third fastest time in FP1 by three-time British Touring Car champion Gordon Shedden, who only completed six laps but ended up 0.119s away from Ehrlacher's pace-setting time.

Shedden was 10th in the second session, with his WRT teammate Jean-Karl Vernay fourth - heading an Audi 4-5-6 in the FP2 order from Nordschleife podium finisher Frederic Vervisch and his Comtoyou teammate Nathanael Berthon.

Rob Huff was seventh in the second session, having finished FP1 fifth in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen.

Gabriele Tarquini was the leading Hyundai runner in FP2 in 16th, with BRC Racing teammate Norbert Michelisz two places further back and YMR pair Thed Bjork and Muller 19th and 22nd respectively.

Hyundai took a significant hit in the latest round of Balance of Performance changes released on Thursday by TCR's technical department, and Bjork's 11th place in FP1 was the only instance where a Hyundai got within a second of the pace in either session.

Wilcard entrant Prince Bernhard van Oranje-Nassau - co-owner of the Zandvoort circuit - was 23rd in FP1 in his Audi run by Bas Koeten Racing, 1.794s off the pace.

He was 26th in FP2, one place ahead of WTCR regular Tom Coronel in his Boutsen Ginion Honda.

FP2 Results:

Pos.NumDriverCarTimeGap
1 86 ARG Esteban Guerrieri Honda 1'44.300  
2 68 FRA Yann Ehrlacher Honda 1'44.408 0.108
3 7 FRA Aurelien Comte Peugeot 1'44.587 0.287
4 69 FRA Jean-Karl Vernay Audi 1'44.718 0.418
5 22 BEL Frederic Vervisch Audi 1'44.719 0.419
6 23 FRA Nathanael Berthon Audi 1'44.740 0.440
7 12 GBR Rob Huff Volkswagen 1'44.760 0.460
8 63 BEL Benjamin Lessennes Honda 1'44.891 0.591
9 21 FRA Aurelien Panis Audi 1'44.907 0.607
10 52 GBR Gordon Shedden Audi 1'44.946 0.646
11 70 SVK Mat'o Homola Peugeot 1'45.131 0.831
12 15 GBR James Thompson Honda 1'45.138 0.838
13 74 ESP Pepe Oriola Seat 1'45.178 0.878
14 25 MAR Mehdi Bennani Volkswagen 1'45.305 1.005
15 20 BEL Denis Dupont Audi 1'45.373 1.073
16 30 ITA Gabriele Tarquini Hyundai 1'45.654 1.354
17 66 HUN Zsolt Szabo Seat 1'45.713 1.413
18 5 HUN Norbert Michelisz Hyundai 1'45.759 1.459
19 11 SWE Thed Bjork Hyundai 1'45.858 1.558
20 27 FRA John Filippi Seat 1'46.095 1.795
21 88 ITA Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo 1'46.104 1.804
22 48 FRA Yvan Muller Hyundai 1'46.106 1.806
23 10 ITA Gianni Morbidelli Alfa Romeo 1'46.150 1.850
24 3 HOL Michael Verhagen Audi 1'46.458 2.158
25 8 HUN Norbert Nagy Seat 1'46.508 2.208
26 2 HOL Bernhard van Oranje-Nassau Audi 1'46.708 2.408
27 9 HOL Tom Coronel Honda 1'47.185 2.885

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