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