Brno: Menu tops Practice 1 for Chevrolet

The FIA World Touring Car Championship took to Brno’s Automotodrom for the first time this weekend with Alain Menu (2:11.500) leading the way for Chevrolet in the first free practice.
Menu led for the majority of the 30-minute session ending the morning 0.2s ahead of reigning world champion Gabriele Tarquini (2:11.708) and teammate Rob Huff (2:11.866).

Colin Turkington (2:12.053) put in another strong performance in his eBay Motors BMW 320si finishing top independent in fourth. SR-Sport’s Jordi Gené (2:12.060) was fifth ahead of BMW Team RBM’s Andy Priaulx (2:12.127) who is looking for a strong result at the place where he scored his first victory for BMW in the European Touring Car Championship back in 2003.

Norbert Michelisz (2:12.284) continued his impressive showing off the back of a run of rookie victories, finishing top in the Rookie Challenge, seventh overall.

Stefano D’Aste (2:12.293) lost the back end of his BMW 320si at T4 spinning across the track while Morocco’s Mehdi Bennani (2:14.558) narrowly missed hitting the barrier after losing the back end and running into the gravel at T12. Both recovered to finish the session eighth and 20th respectively.

Augusto Farfus (2:12.301) was ninth ahead of 2009 Brno Race 2 winner Sergio Hernández (2:12.307) who also had a spin running wide at T9 but recovering in his BMW 320si.