Ferenc Ficza created the first surprise of the TCR International Series’ new season by emerging as the fastest driver in today’s testing session at Rustavi International Motorpark.
A number of drivers took stints on top of the timesheet during the two-hour testing, however it was only in the final thirty minutes that lap times dropped down dramatically.
Eventually, Ficza posted the fastest time of 1:42.333 at the wheel of his Zele Racing SEAT León, beating Jean-Karl Vernay (1:42.349 in the Leopard Racing Volkswagen Golf) by only 16 thousandths of a second and Attila Tassi (1:42.400 in the M1RA Honda Civic) by 67 thousandths.
The session was extremely close, as the nine fastest drivers were covered by less than four tenths, with Lukoil Craft-Bamboo teammates Pepe Oriola (1:42.452) and Hugo Valente (1:42.522) ranking fourth and fifth ahead of local hero Davit Kajaia (1:42.638) in the fastest of the GE-Force Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The Italian duo of Gianni Morbidelli (1:42.682 in the WestCoast Racing Volkswagen Golf) and Roberto Colciago (1:42.692 in the second Honda of M1RA) followed in seventh and eighth.
James Nash (1:42.726 – Lukoil Craft-Bamboo SEAT) and Giacomo Altoè (1:42.949 - WestCoast VW) rounded out the top ten.
Among the drivers who struggled to stay on the leaders’ pace, were the reigning champion Stafano Comini (1:43.613) in the Comtoyou Racing Audi RS3 LMS and the pairing of DG Sport Compétition: Mat’o Homola (1:43.500) and Pierre-Yves Corthals (1:43.993) in their Opel Astra cars.
Track action will resume tomorrow with two Free Practice sessions at 10:00 and 12:10 local time.