The opening free practice session at Vallelunga officially kicked off the 2026 TCR European Endurance season. The championship began its third year by sharing the track with the brand new GTC Endurance Challenge, as the two projects promoted by Riza International are set to embark on this new exciting journey together.
With 20 drivers ready to fight for top spot, the competition looked as fierce as ever, though it was reigning champions Eric Scalvini and Salvatore Tavano (Cupra Leon VZ) who started their title defense in the best possible way. With a 1:42.280, the Italian duo finished FP1 on top for a smooth start to the year, despite a short red flag period that halted proceedings near the halfway point. The nearest competitor was the BF Motorsport pair of Lisi/Berton (Audi RS3 LMS), thus reigniting the fight between the Italian team and Wimmer Werk Motorsport that stole the show in 2025. Third place belonged to Çiftçi/Dalokay (Audi RS3 LMS), as the TEXACO Team AMS entry ended FP1 just in front of their teammates Kalpaklıoğlu/Göktaş (Audi RS3 Gen-1), who also set the fastest time across the Gen-1 entries. Fifth place went to Palanti/Carinci (Audi RS3 DSG), who led the DSG standings for Casals Motorsport: the Italian pair finished just in front of Caso/Leone (Cupra TCR DSG) and Argenti/Serratore (Cupra TCR DSG), who rounded out the class’ top three.
The on-track action continues later today for FP2, with a second 40-minute session scheduled at 16:40 local time. Qualifying will instead take place on Saturday 18 April, with the first section scheduled at 9:00 local time and the second at 9:40 – both lasting 15 minutes. Stage-1 is set to begin later that day at 16:00 local time, whereas the second stage takes place on Sunday 19 April, when the green flag will be waived at 14:15 local time. Both stages will be broadcast on TCR TV’s official YouTube channel, as well as on PitwallTV and Acelera GP’s YouTube channels.
