Rob Huff set the pace this morning around the Macau Guia Circuit as damp conditions caused several drivers to make mistakes around the tricky street circuit. Huff was 0.868 seconds faster than his next closest competitor, title rival Yvan Muller.
Click here for the full times from testing.
A crash in one of the support races caused the session to be delayed by half an hour as the barriers were repaired at the ‘R bend’. However when the session got underway it did not take long for someone else to meet the barriers – with Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Charles Ng hitting the barrier and removing his front-left wheel, causing the session to be red-flagged after ten minutes.
When the session resumed the lap times continued to tumble on a drying circuit, and Huff finally set the quickest time just before the end of the session.
Darryl O’Young was third fastest in the sole bamboo engineering Chevrolet Cruze, although he was 1.785 seconds off Huff’s pace. Indeed there was a considerably large difference between the fastest and slowest drivers as a result of the changeable conditions around the circuit, with more than 26 seconds covering the top twenty cars.
Tiago Monteiro was fourth fastest for SUNRED, although the Portugese star had moments earlier been the fastest man on circuit. Alain Menu, who had been trading top times with his Chevrolet team-mates, ended the session fifth fastest and was the last man within two seconds of Huff.
Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Franz Engstler and Kristian Poulsen were sixth and seventh, with fellow BMW racer Norbert Michelisz just behind in eighth.
Several drivers are making their WTCC début’s this weekend – Felipe Clemente de Souza was 19th, Lo Ka Chun 20th, Mak Ka Lok 22nd and Canadian Gary Kwok 23rd. Kuok Io Keong failed to set a time in his Corsa Motorsport Chevrolet Lacetti.