WTCR Zandvoort: Munnich Honda duo Guerrieri/Ehrlacher top practice
Munnich Motorsport pair Esteban Guerrieri and Yann Ehrlacher locked out the top two positions in both of Saturday's World Touring Car Cup practice sessions at Zandvoort
Fresh from his first win of the season at last weekend's Nurburgring Nordschleife round, Guerrieri set the fastest time of either of the sessions - which represent Saturday's only WTCR activity at Zandvoort - with a 1m44.300s lap in FP2.
Ehrlacher jumped up to second late on in the session in his similar Honda Civic, lapping just over a tenth of a second slower than his team-mate.
That result marked a reversal of the pair's FP1 result - with Ehrlacher, the nephew of four-time World Touring Car champion Yvan Muller, pipping Guerrieri by 0.032 seconds on that occasion.
Aurelien Comte put in two eye catching performances in his DG Sport Peugeot 308TCR, finishing the two half-hour practices fourth and third respectively.
The Frenchman was beaten to the third fastest time in FP1 by three-time British Touring Car champion Gordon Shedden, who only completed six laps but ended up 0.119s away from Ehrlacher's pace-setting time.
Shedden was 10th in the second session, with his WRT team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay fourth - heading an Audi RS3 LMS 4-5-6 in the FP2 order from Nordschleife podium finisher Frederic Vervisch and his Comtoyou team-mate Nathanael Berthon.
Rob Huff was seventh in the second session, having finished FP1 fifth in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi.
Gabriele Tarquini was the leading Hyundai runner in FP2 in 16th, with BRC Racing team-mate Norbert Michelisz two places further back and YMR pair Thed Bjork and Muller 19th and 22nd respectively.
The i30 N took a significant hit in the latest round of Balance of Performance changes released on Thursday by TCR's technical department, and Bjork's 11th place in FP1 was the only instance where a Hyundai got within a second of the pace in either session.
Wilcard entrant Prince Bernhard van Oranje-Nassau - co-owner of the Zandvoort circuit - was 23rd in FP1 in his Audi RS3 LMS run by Bas Koeten Racing, 1.794s off the pace.
He was 26th in FP2, one place ahead of WTCR regular Tom Coronel in his Boutsen Ginion Honda Civic.
FP1 times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yann Ehrlacher | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 1m44.967s | 12 |
| 2 | Esteban Guerrieri | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.032s | 11 |
| 3 | Gordon Shedden | WRT | Audi | 0.119s | 6 |
| 4 | Aurelien Comte | DG Sport Competition | Peugeot | 0.302s | 11 |
| 5 | Rob Huff | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen | 0.389s | 11 |
| 6 | Frederic Vervisch | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 0.446s | 11 |
| 7 | Jean-Karl Vernay | WRT | Audi | 0.523s | 12 |
| 8 | Mat'o Homola | DG Sport Competition | Peugeot | 0.629s | 12 |
| 9 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.669s | 13 |
| 10 | Pepe Oriola | Campos Racing | Cupra | 0.735s | 13 |
| 11 | Thed Bjork | YMR | Hyundai | 0.832s | 13 |
| 12 | Benjamin Lessennes | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda | 0.946s | 12 |
| 13 | Nathanael Berthon | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 1.119s | 12 |
| 14 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen | 1.124s | 13 |
| 15 | Denis Dupont | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 1.185s | 12 |
| 16 | Norbert Michelisz | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 1.239s | 14 |
| 17 | Yvan Muller | YMR | Hyundai | 1.333s | 13 |
| 18 | Aurelien Panis | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 1.422s | 13 |
| 19 | Gabriele Tarquini | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 1.494s | 12 |
| 20 | Norbert Nagy | Zengo Motorsport | Cupra | 1.626s | 12 |
| 21 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Cupra | 1.743s | 14 |
| 22 | Tom Coronel | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda | 1.787s | 12 |
| 23 | Bernhard van Oranje | Bas Koeten Racing | Audi | 1.794s | 14 |
| 24 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 1.811s | 12 |
| 25 | Michael Verhagen | Bas Koeten Racing | Audi | 2.139s | 13 |
| 26 | Zsolt Szabo | Zengo Motorsport | Cupra | 2.449s | 14 |
FP2 times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Esteban Guerrieri | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 1m44.300s | 13 |
| 2 | Yann Ehrlacher | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.108s | 12 |
| 3 | Aurelien Comte | DG Sport Competition | Peugeot | 0.287s | 13 |
| 4 | Jean-Karl Vernay | WRT | Audi | 0.418s | 14 |
| 5 | Frederic Vervisch | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 0.419s | 13 |
| 6 | Nathanael Berthon | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 0.440s | 12 |
| 7 | Rob Huff | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen | 0.460s | 12 |
| 8 | Benjamin Lessennes | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda | 0.591s | 13 |
| 9 | Aurelien Panis | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 0.607s | 12 |
| 10 | Gordon Shedden | WRT | Audi | 0.646s | 11 |
| 11 | Mat'o Homola | DG Sport Competition | Peugeot | 0.831s | 14 |
| 12 | James Thompson | Munnich Motorsport | Honda | 0.838s | 13 |
| 13 | Pepe Oriola | Campos Racing | Cupra | 0.878s | 14 |
| 14 | Mehdi Bennani | Sebastien Loeb Racing | Volkswagen | 1.005s | 14 |
| 15 | Denis Dupont | Comtoyou Racing | Audi | 1.073s | 12 |
| 16 | Gabriele Tarquini | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 1.354s | 12 |
| 17 | Zsolt Szabo | Zengo Motorsport | Cupra | 1.413s | 14 |
| 18 | Norbert Michelisz | BRC Racing Team | Hyundai | 1.459s | 13 |
| 19 | Thed Bjork | YMR | Hyundai | 1.558s | 12 |
| 20 | John Filippi | Campos Racing | Cupra | 1.795s | 10 |
| 21 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 1.804s | 12 |
| 22 | Yvan Muller | YMR | Hyundai | 1.806s | 12 |
| 23 | Gianni Morbidelli | Team Mulsanne | Alfa Romeo | 1.850s | 12 |
| 24 | Michael Verhagen | Bas Koeten Racing | Audi | 2.158s | 15 |
| 25 | Norbert Nagy | Zengo Motorsport | Cupra | 2.208s | 14 |
| 26 | Bernhard van Oranje | Bas Koeten Racing | Audi | 2.408s | 14 |
| 27 | Tom Coronel | Boutsen Ginion Racing | Honda | 2.885s | 12 |
Previous article
Hyundai WTCR cars take big hit in TCR Balance of Performance change
Next article
WTCR Zandvoort: Rob Huff takes pole position for race one
About this article
| Series | WTCR |
| Drivers | Yann Ehrlacher , Esteban Guerrieri |
| Author | Jack Cozens |
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?
A world champion in waiting's tortuous path to recovery
Tiago Monteiro seemed destined to win the World Touring Car Championship last year, until a huge testing crash halted his charge. After early whispers of a swift racing return, he recounts his arduous (and incomplete) road to recovery
Why a world championship made the ultimate sacrifice
A rulebook scrapped with two-thirds of its planned existence remaining and the disintegration of a 'world championship' - yet everyone's a winner from one of modern motorsport's greatest acts of martyrdom
