WTCR Zandvoort: Bjork sets combined practice pace for Cyan Racing
Cyan Racing driver Thed Bjork set the pace across Friday's two World Touring Car Cup practice sessions at the returning Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix venue Zandvoort
The 2017 World Touring Car champion's table-topping effort in FP2 came as something of a surprise, as Bjork headed Yann Ehrlacher in a Cyan one-two despite the team's car being saddled with more weight ahead of this weekend's round.
The Lynk & Co 03 has received a 10kg increase in BoP weight for the Zandvoort event, although its maximum engine power has also been boosted from 97.5% to 100%.
Bjork was Cyan's lead representative in FP1, finishing eighth, and then topped the half-hour second practice session with a best time of 1m45.161s - which was 0.082 seconds clear of Ehlracher's late effort.
Norbert Michelisz, who sits third in the drivers' standings thanks to a run of three second-place finishes from the four most recent races, was another late improver in FP2 and ended up third in his BRC Racing Hyundai i30 N.
The Hungarian finished best of the rest ahead of the Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTIs of Johan Kristoffersson and Benjamin Leuchter.
A trio of Cupras - Comtoyou pair Aurelien Panis and Tom Coronel, plus PWR's Daniel Haglof - were next up, while Esteban Guerrieri (Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic Type R) was the final driver to lap faster than KCMG Honda driver Attila Tassi's FP1 benchmark.
Tassi was fastest in the 45-minute opening session - which, like FP2, ran without incident - by three tenths from Coronel, with the Lukoil-backed BRC Hyundai of Augusto Farfus third.
Mikel Azcona (PWR Cupra) was fourth in that session, and rounded out a top 10 in FP2 that featured five of the seven brands.
WRT driver Jean-Karl Vernay was the fastest of the Audi RS3 LMS contingent in 11th, while Kevin Ceccon and his Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloca team-mate Ma Qing Hua were 17th and 18th.
FP1 Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Attila Tassi | KCMG | Honda | 1m45.692s | 17 |
| 2 | Tom Coronel | Comtoyou Cupra | Cupra | 0.303s | 18 |
| 3 | Augusto Farfus | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 0.358s | 17 |
| 4 | Mikel Azcona | PWR Racing | Cupra | 0.384s | 20 |
| 5 | Daniel Haglof | PWR Racing | Cupra | 0.422s | 12 |
| 6 | Benjamin Leuchter | SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen | 0.648s | 15 |
| 7 | Nestor Girolami | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.691s | 17 |
| 8 | Thed Bjork | Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co | 0.760s | 15 |
| 9 | Esteban Guerrieri | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.785s | 17 |
| 10 | Gabriele Tarquini | BRC Squadra Corse | Hyundai | 0.801s | 15 |
| 11 | Andy Priaulx | Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co | 0.806s | 16 |
| 12 | Niels Langeveld | Comtoyou Audi | Audi | 0.882s | 18 |
| 13 | Johan Kristoffersson | SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen | 0.949s | 14 |
| 14 | Norbert Michelisz | BRC Squadra Corse | Hyundai | 0.981s | 17 |
| 15 | Yvan Muller | Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co | 0.981s | 15 |
| 16 | Tiago Monteiro | KCMG | Honda | 1.118s | 16 |
| 17 | Nicky Catsburg | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 1.193s | 17 |
| 18 | Yann Ehrlacher | Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co | 1.242s | 16 |
| 19 | Aurelien Panis | Comtoyou Cupra | Cupra | 1.278s | 17 |
| 20 | Jean-Karl Vernay | WRT | Audi | 1.425s | 15 |
| 21 | Rob Huff | SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen | 1.437s | 14 |
| 22 | Mehdi Bennani | SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen | 1.540s | 14 |
| 23 | Ma Qinghua | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 1.565s | 18 |
| 24 | Kevin Ceccon | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 1.649s | 18 |
| 25 | Frederic Vervisch | Comtoyou Audi | Audi | 2.276s | 14 |
| 26 | Gordon Shedden | WRT | Audi | 3.221s | 15 |
FP2 results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thed Bjork | Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co | 1m45.161s | 12 |
| 2 | Yann Ehrlacher | Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co | 0.082s | 10 |
| 3 | Norbert Michelisz | BRC Squadra Corse | Hyundai | 0.168s | 13 |
| 4 | Johan Kristoffersson | SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen | 0.345s | 12 |
| 5 | Benjamin Leuchter | SLR Volkswagen | Volkswagen | 0.362s | 11 |
| 6 | Aurelien Panis | Comtoyou Cupra | Cupra | 0.391s | 11 |
| 7 | Tom Coronel | Comtoyou Cupra | Cupra | 0.451s | 10 |
| 8 | Daniel Haglof | PWR Racing | Cupra | 0.466s | 13 |
| 9 | Esteban Guerrieri | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.489s | 10 |
| 10 | Mikel Azcona | PWR Racing | Cupra | 0.545s | 14 |
| 11 | Jean-Karl Vernay | WRT | Audi | 0.572s | 10 |
| 12 | Niels Langeveld | Comtoyou Audi | Audi | 0.582s | 13 |
| 13 | Nestor Girolami | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.582s | 11 |
| 14 | Andy Priaulx | Cyan Performance | Lynk & Co | 0.592s | 10 |
| 15 | Nicky Catsburg | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 0.735s | 13 |
| 16 | Yvan Muller | Cyan Racing | Lynk & Co | 0.737s | 9 |
| 17 | Kevin Ceccon | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 0.770s | 12 |
| 18 | Ma Qinghua | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 0.824s | 11 |
| 19 | Attila Tassi | KCMG | Honda | 0.842s | 12 |
| 20 | Augusto Farfus | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 0.888s | 11 |
| 21 | Frederic Vervisch | Comtoyou Audi | Audi | 0.975s | 12 |
| 22 | Mehdi Bennani | SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen | 0.992s | 13 |
| 23 | Tiago Monteiro | KCMG | Honda | 1.012s | 11 |
| 24 | Gordon Shedden | WRT | Audi | 1.398s | 11 |
| 25 | Rob Huff | SLR VW Motorsport | Volkswagen | 1.487s | 9 |
| 26 | Gabriele Tarquini | BRC Squadra Corse | Hyundai | 1.509s | 14 |
Slovakia WTCR: Ma Qing Hua and new Alfa Romeo get first win
WTCR Zandvoort: Bjork on pole as Cyan takes 1-2-3, Muller second
The much-loved tin-top superstar bowing out at 59
OPINION: It's not often that a driver achieves widespread affection for their personality, as well as their on-track performances. One such individual is Gabriele Tarquini, who will soon bring the curtain down on a remarkable career that has yielded touring car titles on the European and global stage - and, famously, in Britain too
Why the new electric tin-top series deserves to be taken seriously
The new Pure ETCR series will get underway at Vallelunga this weekend featuring great looking cars, top drivers and real tracks. Its format is wacky, but it exists in an era when its petrol-fuelled brethren are all artificially contrived, and has the potential to move the tin-top game on
The tin-top champion who doesn't know the meaning of retirement
The news is out that three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx is stepping down from full-time racing. But he's still got plenty of mileage left him in yet, and his son has much more
The phoenix driver who is at peace with his defeats
Esteban Guerrieri spent years trying to make it in single-seaters, and came closer than you'd think to making it to F1. Now he's forging a successful tin-top career, but it's his philosophical approach to defeat and personal growth that is truly impressive
The surprise team orders twisting a world title battle
Team orders in major touring car racing are nothing unusual with manufacturer honour at stake. But in the 2019 World Touring Cars title fight, one team is raising eyebrows with the choices it is making
The 'weapon' clash that turned a world title battle bitter
Emotions ran high at Suzuka last weekend between two teams gunning for global tin-top bragging rights, and little has been done to cool those tensions since. While that's great news for WTCR, is there a danger of both outfits losing sight of their main aim?
How WTCR's last real independent has stayed in play
The World Touring Car Cup has gone from strength to strength for 2019 - but one small team in particular is proving time and again that it merits a place alongside the series' big hitters
The lessons World Touring Cars must heed from history
The WTCR has made a massive step up in quality ahead of its second season in its current format, but as manufacturers start to lock horns is it already in danger of repeating other great touring car series' mistakes?