It was Gianni Morbidelli who took over as the fastest driver in second practice for the TCR International Series in Macau on Friday, with the WestCoast Racing driver four tenths faster than Pepe Oriola.
In another red-flag interrupted session it was Morbidelli who went fastest, beating all four of the title contenders behind him. Morbidelli, who is out of the title chase, was more than a second faster than the times from Thursday’s first practice.
Oriola was second once again, just as he had been on Thursday, ahead of Leopard Racing title contenders Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay in fourth and fifth respectively.
Championship leader James Nash put his Craft-Bamboo Racing SEAT in fifth, with the Brit being the last driver to be within a second of Morbidelli’s pace.
Sixth and seventh were B3 Racing duo Dušan Borković and Mat’o Homola, with the former in particular improving significantly on a challenging Thursday that had seen him end up nearly ten seconds off the pace after struggling for a clear track.
Target Competition’s Josh Files was eighth fastest and the second best of the Honda racers, whilst the third B3 Racing entry of Attila Tassi, and Liqui Moly Team Engstler’s Andy Yan completed the top ten.
Numerous drivers failed to post times in the half-hour session, due in part to the stoppages and difficulty in getting a clean lap in.
Douglas Khoo caused the first red flag when he crashed at Fisherman’s bend on his first lap. The resulting stoppage left only 20 minutes for the field to set their times.
There were also crashes for Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Sergey Afanasyev, who hit the wall on his first lap, and Kevin Tse, who crashed at San Franciscio bend.
Tiago Monteiro, Thursday’s pace-setter, failed to post a time due to a turbine manifold issue, whilst both Alfa Romeo Giulietta cars of Petr Fulín and Andrea Belicchi were hit by a turbo failure.
Qualifying takes place at 07:30 local time on Saturday (23:30 GMT Friday night, 00:30 CET) and will be streamed live online.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 8 | 2:33.495 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 2:33.977 | 0.482 |
| 3 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 8 | 2:34.179 | 0.684 |
| 4 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 8 | 2:34.252 | 0.757 |
| 5 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 2:34.285 | 0.790 |
| 6 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 2:34.797 | 1.302 |
| 7 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 2:34.991 | 1.496 |
| 8 | 50 | Josh FILES | |
Target Competition | Honda Civic TCR | 8 | 2:35.011 | 1.516 |
| 9 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 2:35.955 | 2.460 |
| 10 | 3 | Andy YAN Cheuk Wai |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 7 | 2:36.513 | 3.018 |
| 11 | 28 | Kevin TSE |  |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 6 | 2:39.561 | 6.066 |
| 12 | 48 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 9 | 2:39.639 | 6.144 |
| 13 | 83 | Tin SRITRAI |  |
Team Thailand | Honda Civic TCR | 7 | 2:41.598 | 8.103 |
| 14 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 6 | 2:44.288 | 10.793 |
| 15 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 7 | 2:46.318 | 12.823 |
| 16 | 35 | Rafaël GALIANA | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Cup Racer | 7 | 2:46.700 | 13.205 |
| 17 | 20 | Hon Kei LOU | |
Elegant Racing Team | SEAT León Cup Racer | 7 | 2:46.857 | 13.362 |
| 18 | 23 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 6 | 2:50.466 | 16.971 |
| 19 | 27 | Bill E O’BRIEN | |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 8 | 2:56.555 | 23.060 |
| 20 | 17 | Terence TSE Kin Leung | |
Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Cup Racer | 8 | 3:01.362 | 27.867 |
| 21 | 81 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 6 | No time | N/A |
| 22 | 22 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 5 | No time | N/A |
| 23 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 3 | No time | N/A |
| 24 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui |  |
Viper Niza Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 0 | No time | N/A |
| 25 | 14 | Neric WEI Chao Yin |  |
Son Veng Racing Team | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |
| 26 | 33 | Jordi ORIOLA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |