Practice 1 - Gené is the quickest

Jordi Gené (1:56.232) topped Practice 1 in Portimão ahead of this weekend’s WTCC Race of Portugal. The Spaniard knocked home favourite and SR-Sport teammate Tiago Monteiro off the top spot at the halfway point and remained quickest until the end of the 30-minute session.

Rookie driver Fredy Barth (1:56.359) put in a great lap, just a couple of minutes before the end, to finish second overall ahead of Monteiro (1:56.570) in third. The Rookies were in good form this morning with Denmark’s Michel Nykjær (1:56.612) in fourth and Hungary’s Norbert Michelisz (1:56.906) eighth.

Gené, Barth, Monteiro and Nykjær on top of the time sheet meant that the SEAT León TDI appears to be the car to beat in Algarve.

Yvan Muller was fastest out the box, his first flying lap quicker than yesterday’s best time set by Andy Priaulx, but his quickest time of the session (1:56.673) left him fifth.

Gabriele Tarquini (1:56.683) was sixth despite stopping out on track as the chequered flag came out after a left front tyre blowout on his SEAT León TDI.

Yesterday’s quickest man, Andy Priaulx (1:56.831) was seventh with series newcomer Colin Turkington (1:56.948) putting in another strong performance to finish ninth and top Independent. His closest rival was Darryl O’Young (1:57.486) in 14th.

Priaulx’s BMW Team RBM teammate Augusto Farfus rounded out the top ten at the impressive Autódromo Internacional de Algarve.