WTCR – Filippi leads collective testing in Barcelona

The Barcelona circuit (Spain) was the scene of the WTCR's only day of collective testing on Thursday before the season launch scheduled for Marrakech (Morocco, April 7-8). The times achieved are, however, of relative importance since, as in any pre-season testing phase, the different teams were able to hide their game.

À titre d’exemple, on peut noter le tir groupé des deux Hyundai i30 N de l’équipe Yvan Muller Racing, the boss-driver ahead of outgoing WTCC champion Thed Björk in 19th and 20th place, almost two seconds behind the best time set by John Filippi (Campos Racing) on ​​his Cupra. Formerly called Seat Leon, the Cupra seems fast as confirmed by the second best time by Pepe Oriola (Campos Racing).

Testing #WTCR pic.twitter.com/NqpAYj0yy1

— John Filippi (@J_Filippi) March 29, 2018

The French appear overall at the top of the ranking: Aurélien Panis and Nathanaël Berthon (Comtoyou Racing) are 3rd and 4th with the Audi RS 3 LMS. The first Honda Civic Type-R is in 6th place with Yann Ehrlacher (Münnich Motorsport).

Rob Huff ill, Mehdi Bennani (7th) was the only resident of Sébastien Loeb Racing present in Catalonia. The first one Peugeot 308 is in 8th place thanks to Aurélien Comte (DG Sport Compétition).

Titled in the TCR International Series last year, Jean Karl Vernay (Team WRT) is rejected at 15th place. The full ranking of the trials is available here.

Discover the WTCR presentation as well as the test of the Audi RS 3 LMS in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available Monday evening in digital version on Wednesday on newsstands.