Norbert Michelisz

Nicky Catsburg was fastest for Lada Sport in the second free practice session of the day at Slovakiaring. The Dutchman came home ahead of Thed Bjork and Fredrik Ekblom after the two Polestar Cyan Racing drivers led most of the session.

The session started with Honda Racing practising MAC3, but the slippery track at Turn 9 meant both Tiago Monteiro and Rob Huff slid wide, with the Brit taking a long trip in the gravel trap but still able to continue.

The Volvos immediately set the pace, as many cars waited for the track to get cleaner before they got out and set a competitive lap time. As a result, it was not until the final minutes of the session that Catsburg set a very good lap time, improving on his own personal best of the weekend by two tenths.

ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel also had a slide out of the track and rejoined, as did Norbert Michelisz in his Honda Civic. With just one minute to go, John Filippi, who was massively improving his lap time, outbraked himself and got stuck in the gravel trap, triggering a yellow flag which effectively ended the session.

Catsburg was therefore first ahead of the Cyan Racing duo, with Bjork ahead of Ekblom. Norbert Michelisz came fourth ahead of a stunning James Thompson, who improved by 0.8s compared to his best FP1 lap to claim fifth outright and topping the privateers’ WTCC Trophy.

Source: TouringCarTimes

Results of FP2: