The FIA World Touring Car Championship took to Brno’s Automotodrom for the first time this weekend with Alain Menu (2:11.500) leading the way for Chevrolet in the first free practice.
Menu led for the majority of the 30-minute session ending the morning 0.2s ahead of reigning world champion Gabriele Tarquini (2:11.708) and teammate Rob Huff (2:11.866).
Colin Turkington (2:12.053) put in another strong performance in his eBay Motors BMW 320si finishing top independent in fourth. SR-Sport’s Jordi Gené (2:12.060) was fifth ahead of BMW Team RBM’s Andy Priaulx (2:12.127) who is looking for a strong result at the place where he scored his first victory for BMW in the European Touring Car Championship back in 2003.
Norbert Michelisz (2:12.284) continued his impressive showing off the back of a run of rookie victories, finishing top in the Rookie Challenge, seventh overall.
Stefano D’Aste (2:12.293) lost the back end of his BMW 320si at T4 spinning across the track while Morocco’s Mehdi Bennani (2:14.558) narrowly missed hitting the barrier after losing the back end and running into the gravel at T12. Both recovered to finish the session eighth and 20th respectively.
Augusto Farfus (2:12.301) was ninth ahead of 2009 Brno Race 2 winner Sergio Hernández (2:12.307) who also had a spin running wide at T9 but recovering in his BMW 320si.
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | A. Menu | Chevrolet Cruze | 2m11.500s | |
| 02 | G. Tarquini | Seat Leon TDI | 2m11.708s | +0.208s |
| 03 | R. Huff | Chevrolet Cruze | 2m11.866s | +0.366s |
| 04 | C. Turkington | BMW 320si | 2m12.053s | +0.553s |
| 05 | J. Gene | Seat Leon TDI | 2m12.060s | +0.560s |
| 06 | A. Priaulx | BMW 320si | 2m12.127s | +0.627s |
| 07 | N. Michelisz | Seat Leon TDI | 2m12.284s | +0.784s |
| 08 | S. D’Aste | BMW 320si | 2m12.293s | +0.793s |
| 09 | A. Farfus | BMW 320si | 2m12.301s | +0.801s |
| 10 | S. Hernandez | BMW 320si | 2m12.307s | +0.807s |
| 11 | T. Monteiro | Seat Leon TDI | 2m12.465s | +0.965s |
| 12 | D. O’Young | Chevrolet Lacetti | 2m12.541s | +1.041s |
| 13 | M. Nykjaer | Seat Leon TDI | 2m12.568s | +1.068s |
| 14 | T. Coronel | Seat Leon TDI | 2m12.675s | +1.175s |
| 15 | F. Engstler | BMW 320si | 2m12.720s | +1.220s |
| 16 | Y. Muller | Chevrolet Cruze | 2m13.010s | +1.510s |
| 17 | K. Poulsen | BMW 320si | 2m13.301s | +1.801s |
| 18 | F. Barth | Seat Leon TDI | 2m13.568s | +2.068s |
| 19 | H. Vaulkhard | Chevrolet Lacetti | 2m13.613s | +2.113s |
| 20 | M. Bennani | BMW 320si | 2m14.558s | +3.058s |
| 21 | A. Romanov | BMW 320si | 2m15.500s | +4.000s |
| 22 | F. Fabiani | BMW 320si | 2m18.229s | +6.729s |