Eric Scalvini and Salvatore Tavano (Cupra Leon VZ) were once again the fastest TCR European Endurance entry in Valencia. The Italian pair went quickest in the second free practice session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, the hosting venue of the championship’s third round, after doing so earlier today in FP1. This time, the two clocked in a 1:42.592, the fastest time set so far this weekend by any TCR car.
In a session that only saw a brief red flag interruption, the Italians were not only the quickest right from the beginning, but also one of the best to avoid track-limit warnings, which will for sure play a big role come qualifying. Emulating their result from FP1, Wimmer Werk Motorsport placed both its cars with a sequential gearbox in their class’ top two. Once again, in fact, it was newcomers Wiesmeier/Lemmerhofer (Cupra Leon Competicion) who set the second quickest time; this time, however, third place belonged to Çiftçi/Dalokay (Audi RS3 LMS). The Turkish duo was able to go faster than championship leaders Lisi/Berton (Audi RS3 LMS) by 0.168s, thus relegating the BF Motorsport duo to fourth.
In the DSG class, it was an Audi RS3 DSG one-two, as Tuder Motorsport’s Pezza/Verrocchio were able to clinch top spot in their category ahead of Palanti/Carinci, who lead the DSG championship standings coming into this round. Behind them were Kochendorfer/Klug (Cupra TCR DSG), the quickest DSG pair of the opening free practice session. Fourth in class went to Caso/Locatelli (Cupra TCR DSG), while the Gen-1 entry of Kalpaklıoğlu/Göktaş (Audi RS3 Gen-1) sat right behind them. Serratore/Argenti (Cupra TCR DSG) were the fifth-fastest DSG entry, while the new TEXACO Team AMS entry of Söylemez/Okyay (Audi RS3 DSG) did not set a flying lap throughout the session.
With Friday’s programme now in the books, the focus shifts to Saturday 26 September, with the two qualifying sessions lasting 15 minutes each set to begin at 11:55 and 12:20 local time respectively. Later the same day, Stage-1 begins at 15:05 local time, while Stage-2 will take place on Sunday 27 September at 9:10 local time. Both stages will be broadcast live on TCR TV’s official YouTube channel with Daniele Spadi providing commentary.
