Rob Huff off to perfect start in rainy session

Chevrolet stars Rob Huff and Yvan Muller began their FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) title showdown in Macau by setting the two fastest laps in yesterday’s test session on a slippery track due to constant showers.
Muller’s victory in the Race 2 last time out at Shanghai allowed the Frenchman to extend his lead over his British rival to 20 points. But yesterday it was Huff who got off to the perfect start when he topped the times during the official test session.
Huff spent much of the 30-minute session building up his speed before delivering his best time on his final lap.
After returning to the pits with minor damage to his wing mirrors, Huff said that getting very close to the walls was mandatory at Macau if you want to set a good time.
“If you are not brushing the barriers then you are not trying hard enough,” said Huff. “That was quite a difficult session, because the track was still damp in places, but I steadily built up speed and I’m pretty happy with how it ended.”
Muller ended the session second overall, eight tenths of a second slower than Huff, having topped the times briefly near the end. Darryl O’Young from Hong Kong was third fastest in his Chevrolet.
Tiago Monteiro was the fastest Seat driver, as he ended the session fourth on the timesheets, ahead of Alain Menu in the Chevrolet and Franz Engstler in the BMW.
The session was interrupted once for a red flag, after Charles Kaki Ng from Hong Kong crashed his car into the barriers at the Melco hairpin after 10 minutes of running. Although he was able to keep his badly damaged BMW moving again, he eventually had to pull off on the run down to Fishermen’s Bend.
Macau’s André Couto had a problem with his Seat’s turbo and didn’t make more than three laps. Joseph Merszei and Felipe de Sousa finished 18th and 19th, respectively.

Merhi takes provisional pole

Roberto Merhi secured provisional pole position during a wet qualifying session for the Formula 3 Grand Prix, but his session ended in disappointment after he crashed into another car and put himself out.
With rain falling for the start of the 30-minute first qualifying session, drivers were keen to deliver their fast lap while the track was in its best condition.
And it was Merhi who led the way early on, moving to the top of the session after 10 minutes and then improving on his best to deliver a lap that was 1.675 seconds quicker than nearest rival Marco Wittmann.
But with track conditions deteriorating, Merhi made a mistake in the braking zone for Lisboa and slid into the back of Felix Rosenqvist’s car – with the pair crashing into the escape road at the corner.

His afternoon took a turn for the worse when he was given a three-place grid penalty – as well as other six – for having crossed the yellow pit lane exit line.
Felipe Nasr ended the day third fastest and, with those ahead of him having encountered trouble, he was happy to have kept his car in one piece.
Daniel Juncadella finished fourth overall, ahead of Alexander Sims, Yuhi Sekiguchi and Hannes van Asseldonk.
Valtteri Bottas managed to make it to the Macau track in time following his journey from the Abu Dhabi F1 test, but he was 27th overall.

Rutter on top

As usual, the bikes got the 58th Macau Grand Prix underway early in the morning yesterday for the free practice session, under grey threatening skies.
The rain held off and it was Michael Rutter on the Riders Ducati and Jeremy Toye on the IGT Kawasaki who set the fastest times in the early laps, with ‘The Blade’ Rutter recording a best time of 2:27.618, 1.269s ahead of the Californian Toye.
Behind them, Ian Hutchinson made a promising return to the Guia Circuit, recording the third best time, ahead of Michael Barnes, Gary Johnson and John McGuinness, who was the fastest Honda. Conor Cummins completed 14 laps six seconds behind Rutter, finishing 11th.
Of the Dunlop brothers, Michael was 15th fastest, 7.5 seconds off Rutter's time, while William was a further two seconds slower and three places further back, in 18th.
Local rider João Fernandes was 21st fastest, 13.1 seconds behind Rutter’s time, while Sou Sio Hong finished 24th.
Due to adverse weather conditions, the afternoon qualifying session was cancelled.

Mortara quickest

Two-time Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix champion Edoardo Mortara got his debut Macau GT Cup off to a strong start, with his Audi R8 setting the pace in yesterday’s free practice session, 3.44 seconds faster than Japan’s Keita Sawa – the two-time defending champion – in a Lamborghini LP-560.
Third fastest and a further four seconds behind Sawa was Japan’s Akihiro Tsuzuki, also in an Audi R8. Fourth quickest was Macau driver Rodolfo Ávila who is making the world-wide racing debut of the 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 R this weekend. He was able to get the consent from other drivers in order to be able to race Porsche’s new model.
Rounding out the top five was Mok Weng Sun of Singapore in a Ferrari F458 GT3. Le Mans class winner Danny Watts was eighth fastest.
Macau driver Keith Vong in a Porsche 997 Cup was 11th quickest, while fellow local drivers Diana Rosario in a Ferrari F430 GT was 21st, and Ivo Yiu in a Porsche 997 Cup was 26th.