Macao : Monteiro tops the first session
D’Aste was second fastest
Tiago Monteiro and his Honda Civic set the fastest lap in today’s test session at Macau. The Portuguese driver was on top of the time sheet when the session was red-flagged three minutes to the end and not resumed following Darryl O’Young’s incident.
Lap times dropped by nearly five seconds during the 30-minute session. Mehdi Bennani opened hostilities with a lap of 2:38.340, but his mark was soon improved by Stefano D’Aste’s 2:38.300 and Monteiro’s 2:38.037.
Halfway through the session, Bennani regained the lead with a lap of 2:36.853, then Rob Huff set the first major improvement being timed at 2:34.789. Eventually Monteiro pushed the limit forward to 2:33.908 that was still more than three seconds slower than last year’s pole position time.
D’Aste set the second fastest lap of 2:34.528, while Huff ranked third but gave the impression he could go faster, as he aborted a new lap after setting the fastest times in the first two sectors.
As usual the Guia circuit claimed some victims. Key Cozzolino, Franz Engstler and Mak Ka Lok escaped high-speed spins with nearly no damage.
The same did not apply to O’Young who spun at the Mandarin Oriental bend, crashed into the barrier head-on and bounced back to hit the opposite barrier.
Henry Ho did not complete any lap as he stopped a few metres after exiting the pits, when the fire extinguisher activated itself and filled the BMW cockpit with powder.
Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Tiago MONTEIRO | Honda Civic S2000 WTCC | 2:33.908 |
2 | Stefano D’ASTE | BMW 320 TC | 2:34.528 |
3 | Robert HUFF | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 2:34.789 |
4 | Mehdi BENNANI | BMW 320 TC | 2:35.041 |
5 | Gabriele TARQUINI | SEAT Leon WTCC | 2:35.338 |
6 | Pepe ORIOLA | SEAT Leon WTCC | 2:35.424 |
7 | Alain MENU | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 2:35.573 |
8 | Norbert MICHELISZ | BMW 320 TC | 2:35.886 |
9 | Franz ENGSTLER | BMW 320 TC | 2:36.043 |
10 | Tom CORONEL | BMW 320 TC | 2:36.128 |
11 | Darryl O’YOUNG | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 2:36.541 |
12 | Fredy BARTH | SEAT Leon WTCC | 2:36.831 |
13 | Tom BOARDMAN | SEAT Leon WTCC | 2:37.807 |
14 | Charles NG | BMW 320 TC | 2:38.871 |
15 | Alex MACDOWALL | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 2:39.449 |
16 | André COUTO | SR Leon 1.6T | 2:39.460 |
17 | Tom CHILTON | Ford Focus S2000 TC | 2:40.370 |
18 | Aleksei DUDUKALO | SEAT Leon WTCC | 2:40.800 |
19 | Fernando MONJE | SEAT Leon WTCC | 2:41.134 |
20 | James NASH | Ford Focus S2000 TC | 2:41.270 |
21 | Kei COZZOLINO | BMW 320 TC | 2:42.631 |
22 | Filipe de SOUZA | Chevrolet Lacetti | 2:43.723 |
23 | Yvan MULLER | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 2:43.907 |
24 | Kin Veng NG | Chevrolet Cruze LT | 2:44.003 |
25 | Jo ROSA MERZSEI | BMW 320 si | 2:46.127 |
26 | Eurico DE JESUS | Honda Accord Type-R | 2:47.386 |
27 | Celio ALVES DIAS | Chevrolet Lacetti | 2:47.756 |
28 | Ka Lok MAK | BMW 320 si | 2:51.731 |
29 | Henry HO | BMW 320 si | -:—.--- |
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