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Home team on a high in official WTCR testing

Team OSCARO by Campos Racing enjoyed a home outing to remember as preparations for the opening weekend of the WTCR - FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO shifted up a gear during the official test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today.

After Pepe Oriola topped the morning session in his Cupra TCR, team-mate John Filippi did likewise with an afternoon charge that eclipsed Spaniard Oriola's earlier effort.

Corsican Filippi set a best time of 1m54.443s on the 4.655-kilometre Spanish Grand Prix layout, which is located a short distance from the Campos HQ, with he and Oriola the only drivers to dip inside the 1m55.00s barrier.

Aurélien Panis was second quickest in the afternoon to go third fastest on combined times behind Oriola in his Comtoyou Racing Audi RS 3 LMS. His team-mate and fellow Frenchman Nathanaël Berthon was next up followed by Belgium's Frédéric Vervisch in another Comtoyou Audi.

Yann Ehrlacher was sixth for ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport (Honda Civic Type R TCR), Mehdi Bennani seventh in his Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf, Aurélien Comte (DG Sport Compétition PEUGEOT 308TCR) eighth, Tiago Monteiro's temporary stand-in Benjamin Lessennes ninth for the Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda team and Mato Homola P10 in a second DG PEUGEOT.

Former world champion Gabriele Tarquini was P11 driving a Hyundai i30 N TCR for BRC Racing Team, Gianni Morbidelli (Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR) P12 for Team Mulsanne, Denis Dupont P13 in his RACB National Team-backed Comtoyou Audi, closely followed by Esteban Guerrieri (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport) and Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team's Jean-Karl Vernay, the TCR International champion from 2017. Norbert Nagy was P18 for Zengő Motorsport, Yvan Muller P18 for his self-run YMR team.

Testing was in preparation for the opening event of the WTCR season in Marrakech, Morocco from 7-8 April.

Zdroj: fiawtcr.com