From second on the grid, Mikko Eskelinen took a great start and jumped to the lead, but he braked too late and hit the tyres at the first chicane. Behind him Jan Nilsson clashed with César Campaniço and spun, collecting his team-mate Richard Göransson.
Oscar Nogués’ SEAT León escaped from the chaos and built a gap ahead of Campaniço, Jens-Reno Møller, Kristian Poulsen and Michel Nykjær.
Richard Göransson took the lead at the start, ahead of poleman Michel Nykjær. Behind them there was a collision at the first chicane between Jan Nilsson and Franz Engstler; Nilsson spun and rejoined, while Engstler was hit by Oscar Nogués and retired. Also during the first lap, Jens Löhnig’s Citroën C2 went off and remained stranded in the gravel.
Four drivers, including Tomas Engström (Honda Accord) who had qualified in fourth position, have been penalised by the Stewards for not slowing down enough under yellow flags while the marshals were recovering George Tanev’s and Oscar Nogués’ cars from the gravel trap at Turn 13 during the qualifying session.
Qualifying took place in a sunny afternoon and Michel Nykjær in his Chevrolet Lacetti was the first driver to post a provisional fastest lap at 1:28.430.
Early after the beginning, George Tanev went off at Turn 13 and his car remained stranded in the gravel trap. This resulted in the session being red-flagged and the Petrol GT Racing BMW towed back to the pit.
The second free practice took place in the early afternoon. The first driver to set a fastest lap was Michel Nykjær with his Chevrolet Lacetti at 1:29.177. Soon afterwards his time was improved twice, first by the SEAT León of Oscar Nogués (1:28.710) and later by Franz Engstler’s BMW 320si (1:28.514).
The first free practice session took place in a cold but sunny morning and was dominated by Nordic drivers.
Richard Göransson set the first fastest lap of the day with a time of 1:30.849, which was soon improved by his team-mate Jan Nilsson and then by Thomas Engström, who were clocked respectively at 1:29.762 and 1:28.637.
The third and last test session for the day took place on a completely dry track. Twenty-four drivers took part, which was the biggest number for the day. Three of these twenty-four drivers were Super Production competitors and three represented the Super 1600 class.
