Macau, FP2: Chevrolet domination

In the second free practice the Chevrolet works drivers showed that the fight for the pole position in this afternoon’s qualifying session at Macau will be their own private affair.

Not only Rob Huff, Yvan Muller and Alain Menu set the three fastest laps in the session, but they also outdistanced the rest of the field, leaving Gabriele Tarquini’s SEAT and Tiago Monteiro’s Honda 1.3 and 1.9 seconds behind respectively. All the others were more than two seconds off the Chevrolets’ pace.

Just like in the morning’s session, Huff was the fastest of the pack with a lap of 2:31.061. He beat Muller’s 2:31.335 by nearly three tenths and Menu’s 2:31.630 by nearly six tenths.

Tarquini (2:32.420) and Monteiro (2:32.995) were classified in fourth and fifth, with Norbert Michelisz on top of the Yokohama Trophy in sixth (2:33.802) just ahead of local hero Darryl O’Young (2:33.814). Pepe Oriola, Tom Coronel and Tom Boardman rounded off the top ten.

Kei Cozzolino was forced to skip the session, as the ROAL Motorsport crew is still working to repair his car following the first practice crash.

A couple of drivers hit the wall during this session: Mehdi Bennani at the Lisboa bend and Stefano D’Aste at the Police bend. Both cars were only slightly damaged, although D’Aste had a scary moment because he spun in front of Franz Engstler and Célio Alves Dias who managed to stop a few inches from his stalled car.