WTCR Free Practice 1 flash: Home hero Berthon best in Alsace GrandEst

Nathanaël Berthon and Comtoyou DHL Team Audi Sport set the pace in the opening free practice sesson at Circuit l’Anneau du Rhin as the WTCR Race of Alsace GrandEst officially began this morning. The Frenchman, competing on home soil this weekend, went fastest with a time of 1m26.566s with four of the 45 scheduled minutes remaining aboard his Audi RS 3 LMS.

Ad/> He then saw his position at the top of the timesheets secured when team-mate Tom Coronel slid into the gravel one minute later, causing a red flag and an early end to the session. WTCRHow to watch WTCR Race of Alsace GrandEstAN HOUR AGO “I don’t know if everybody pushed flat-out in that session, but it was a good lap,” Berthon said.

“It’s not easy to put everything together here, but we’re working in a good direction and we’re getting faster and faster. We have work to do for FP2, but it’s a good start.” The sister Comtoyou Team Audi Sport cars were quickest out of the blocks with Mehdi Bennani and Gilles Magnus on top initially, but they were dethroned by BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse’s Norbert Michelisz inside the first 10 minutes.

The 2018 title winner’s mark remained unbeaten until Berthon toppled him by just 0.156s in the dying moments. Goodyear #FollowTheLeader Mikel Azcona made it two Hyundais in the top three, but suffered a trip through the gravel near mid-distance and reported that his car had cut out just beforehand.

Magnus – who suffered a trip down the escape road just before the session was red-flagged to allow Turns 1-3 to be cleaned – was fourth with Attila Tassi – another to suffer a brief off – the quickest of the Honda drivers for LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler. Bennani was sixth, just 03s off the pace while Coronel, Zengő Motorsport’s Rob Huff and