Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini headed a works’ Honda 1-2 in the first free practice session for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Macau, ending the session 0.607 seconds faster than team-mate Tiago Monteiro.
Italian Tarquini rose to the top of the times after just over twenty minutes when he posted a time of 2:27.216 to pip Citroën’s José María López, who in turn had just gone faster than Monteiro. However a further improvement from the Portuguese driver saw him go four tenths faster and move into second position, leaving new champion López in third.
Norbert Michelisz, who had been fastest in the morning’s test session, was fourth and the last driver to be within a second of Tarquini’s pace.
Series returnee Pepe Oriola was once again the top Chevrolet driver, despite his lack of familiarity with the car. The Spaniard was fifth fastest, ahead of Citroën’s Sébastien Loeb in sixth.
Rob Huff dragged his LADA into the top ten in seventh, with the Brit improving significantly on his morning pace to end the session just 1.386 seconds off the pace.
Completing the top ten were the Proteam Honda of Mehdi Bennani and Citroën duo Yvan Muller and Ma Qing Hua, with the latter almost two seconds slower than Tarquini despite being the fastest driver through the high-speed first sector.
The session was red flagged just once, when Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente hit the barriers at Turn 14, damaging the front-right corner of his car. The Frenchman ended the session in 14th position as a result.
Franz Engstler was again the fastest driver in TC2, this time less than ten seconds off the pace. His Liqui Moly Team Engstler team-mate Filipe Clemente de Souza was also second fastest in the class, with the TC1 Chevrolet of René Münnich separating the pair.
Free Practice 2 and Qualifying take place on Friday at 09:25 and 15:10 respectively (02:25 and 08:10 CET, 01:25 and 07:10 GMT).
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 9 | 2:27.216 | |
| 2 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 10 | 2:27.823 | 0.607 |
| 3 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 8 | 2:27.874 | 0.658 |
| 4 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 9 | 2:27.889 | 0.673 |
| 5 | 74 | TC1 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Campos Racing | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 10 | 2:28.509 | 1.293 |
| 6 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 2:28.563 | 1.347 |
| 7 | 12 | TC1 | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport | LADA Granta 1.6T | 11 | 2:28.602 | 1.386 |
| 8 | 25 | TC1 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 7 | 2:28.883 | 1.667 |
| 9 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 10 | 2:28.929 | 1.713 |
| 10 | 33 | TC1 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 2:29.172 | 1.956 |