The free practices of the WTCR in Vallelunga have ended with two doubles, although with a very different script. The first session has ended with Nathanaël Berthon and Gilles Magnus in the lead, although this result has been determined by Yvan Muller leaving the track due to a tire failure that seems to have also been seen, although to a lesser degree, in the Honda TCRs. For his part, andhe FP2 has had a calmer course and a new double, in this case Norbert Michelisz and Mikel Azcona for Hyundai.
The first practice session has awakened certain ghosts from the past with the tire problems that Lynk & Co and Honda have had. In fact, Yvan Muller suffered a track exit at turn 2 that ended in a light touch against the protections after having a failure in one of its tires. The team decided to keep the rest of the cars on the track, but with fear of repeating this problem. For its part, Honda also reported some kind of incident with Goodyear tires.
In this stage, Nathanaël Berthon has set the standard with a time of 1:15.284, a record with which he has surpassed his teammate Gilles Magnus by 59 thousandths. For his part, Néstor Girolami was third, while Mehdi Bennani and Norbert Michelisz completed the ‘top 5’ of this first session. Mikel Azcona finished sixth, just over two tenths off the lead in a session in which four of the five Lynk & Co 03 TCRs have occupied the last four positions.
Despite the fact that the second session was played in tougher conditions, with more ambient heat and on the asphalt, the tires responded better. Although skids and small run-offs have been the order of the day, there have been no more problems with the Goodyear tires. Yes indeed, Norbert Michelisz has failed to improve on FP1 times when setting the pace in FP2. In fact, the Hungarian finished with a time of 1:15.321 in the closing moments of the session.
With this weather, Norbert Michelisz managed to beat his teammate Mikel Azcona by only 67 thousandths. Very close to the two pilots of Hyundai has placed Nathanaël Berthon, with Mehdi Bennani and Néstor Girolami completing the ‘top 5’ of the second practice session. A training in which the step ahead of Honda has been confirmed, but also the problems of Lynk & Co when dragging 40 kilograms of ballast. In fact, Thed Björk was the best driver for Cyan Racing after finishing sixth, but Yann Ehrlacher finished lower.
Photos: FIA WTCR