Rob Huff fastest in warm-up at Macau

Rob Huff has remained in command in his Chevrolet as the WTCC field prepared for the opening race of the day with the morning warm-up session, which took place in overcast and breezy conditions around the tricky Circuito da Guia at Macau. The Briton was followed by the Honda of Monteiro, with Muller a distant 3rd.

With only fifteen minutes for the field to prepare for the first of two races later in the day, the drivers instantly took to the track to begin their race preparations. Championship leader Rob Huff was the first driver to take to the track, and subsequently set the initial pace with a 02:33.790. Huff’s team-mate Yvan Muller quickly disposed of the Briton, however Huff was quick to respond as the lap times quickly improved throughout the session.

Chevrolet quickly locked-out the top three spots on the timings sheets, with Rob Huff leading from Yvan Muller and Alain Menu. However, Chevrolet’s dominance was disrupted as former F1 driver Tiago Monteiro went 3rd with an impressive 02:32.793. Whilst the majority of the field circulated out on track, clearly eager to get as much valuable track time as possible ahead of the two races, Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy leader Norbert Michelisz remained in the pits after completing his installation lap with his bonnet up and a potential issue on his BMW.

As the warm-up session progressed, Rob Huff continued to improve upon his time at the top, with the 32-year-old setting a 02:32.661, a time which he improved upon in the closing stages of the session. As the session entered it’s closing stages, Fredy Barth ran straight on at the Melco hairpin, embedding his SEAT into the barriers and prematurely ending his session.

With the session nearing completion when Barth tapped the tyre barrier at the Melco hairpin, the session was brought to a conclusion with yellow flags still fluttering at the scene of Barth’s incident. Despite this, Tiago Monteiro managed to improve in the final minutes to 2nd with an impressive 02:31.844, only several tenths off Rob Huff. With the warm-up session now complete, the teams and drivers will be frantically preparing for the opening race of the day, which will see Rob Huff start from pole for Chevrolet.

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