Esteban Guerrieri set the fastest lap in the first official test day at Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
The Münnich Motorsport Honda Civic cars topped both sessions with laps of 1:54.738 by Nestor Girolami in the morning and 1:54.531 by Guerrieri in the afternoon; the two Argentines were also the only drivers to go under the 1:55 mark. Guerrieri had been second fastest in the morning, one tenth behind his teammate. Him and Girolami took stints in the same car, which caused some confusions in the timing.
Jean-Karl Vernay was third fastest over the day, clocking a lap of 1:55.231 in the afternoon, at the wheel of his Leopard Racing Audi RS 3 LMS; the Frenchman’s effort demoted Team Mulsanne’s Kevin Ceccon to fourth.
After setting the third fastest lap in the morning session – 1:55.244 – Ceccon and his Alfa Romeo Giulietta were not able to improve in the afternoon; the Italian was fourth fastest in and then stopped on the track with a technical issue ten minutes before the end of the session that was not resumed.
Vernay’s teammate Gordon Shedden was fourth and third in the two sessions, but eventually ranked fifth overall with the time he set in the morning: 1:55.310.
Behind the top five followed Niels Langeveld (Comtoyou Audi, 1:55.925), Attila Tassi (KCMG Honda, 1:56.107), Rob Huff (SLR Volkswagen Golf GTI, 1:56.290), Ma Qing Hua (Mulsanne Alfa Romeo, 1:56.346) and Tom Coronel (Comtoyou CUPRA, 1:56.361).
None of the Hyundai and Lynk&Co cars made the top ten; reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini ranked 14th in the BRC Racing Hyundai i30 N, immediately ahead of Yvan Muller in the fastest of the Chinese cars.
Testing will go on tomorrow.