Macau, FP1: Rob Huff sets the pace

Rob Huff proved he is in the proper shape to try and clinch his first WTCC title by setting the pace in this morning’s first free practice. Under a cloudy sky that threatened rain, Huff topped the time sheet for most of the session.

On their first lap out of the pits the three Chevrolet works drivers set provisional fastest laps: Huff’s 2:34.409 was beaten by Alain Menu’s 2:34.164 and then by Yvan Muller’s 2:33.394. Menu improved further to 2:33.204, a time that was soon beaten by Tiago Monteiro’s Honda Civic that completed a lap in 2:33.203, one thousandth of a second faster.

In the second part of the session, Huff broke the 2:33 wall and jumped on top with a lap of 2:32.175. Once again Monteiro was able to respond and kept his second position with the time of 2:32.630. But both drivers had still a margin to go faster. Huff set the fastest lap for good at 2:31.899 and Monteiro cut another six tenths from his previous lap, clocking a 2:32.033 that placed him second ahead of Menu (2:32.870) and Muller (2:33.060).

Norbert Michelisz (2:33.319) and Mehdi Bennani (2:33.478) ranked fifth and sixth, topping the BMW patrol and the Yokohama Trophy. Gabriele Tarquini was the best of the SEAT group, seventh with a lap of 2:33.828.

Darryl O’Young set the 14th fastest lap after the bamboo-engineering crew spent the whole night to repair his car following yesterday’s crash during the test session.

Two drivers met with problems: Kei Cozzolino hit the wall at the Paiol bend and limped back to the pits, while Henry Ho stopped at the San Francisco bend on his first lap with a gearbox failure.