Continuing his quest to finish second in the Drivers’ Championship standings, Chevrolet driver Robert Huff has headed the field in the opening practice session for the season-ending Macau round of the World Touring Car Championship.

Robert Huff led again in practice The Briton – winner of two races this season – who was fastest in yesterday’s free test session on the Guia street circuit, edged out BMW’s Andy Priaulx to take spot with just three minutes of the session to go.

Priaulx had himself managed to survive a brush with the Armco at the Donna Maria bend during the session, and finished the session second-quickest overall.

It was three different manufacturers in the top three, with Tiago Monteiro lapping as the quickest SEAT driver, edging out fellow SEAT runner Norbert Michelisz to go third-quickest.

Newly-crowned champion Yvan Muller was fifth-quickest, just over two-tenths faster than Chevrolet team-mate Alain Menu.

Next quickest was outgoing champion Gabriele Tarquini, who managed to rejoin the circuit without damage after a trip up the escape road at the Lisboa right-hander.

The only major incident was a crash for Swiss driver Fredy Barth, who spun exiting the Mandarin Bend and pitched himself into the barriers on the right-hand side of the circuit. The SEAT driver managed to limp back to pit lane for repairs.

Darryl O’Young wound up as the quickest Independent Trophy driver, placing ninth on the timesheets and using his prior experience of Macau to goo effect in the Chevrolet Lacetti.

 

2010 WTCC Macau Practice 1 Session Times:

  Driver   Team Time Laps
1. Robert Huff RML Chevrolet Cruze LT 2:32.272 8
2. Andy Priaulx RBM Team BMW 320si + 0.262 10
3. Tiago Monteiro POR SR Sport SEAT León TDI + 0.689 10
4. Norbert Michelisz HUN Zengö-Dension SEAT León TDI + 0.814 9
5. Yvan Muller FRA RML Chevrolet Cruze LT + 0.851 9
6. Alain Menu RML Chevrolet Cruze LT + 1.081 8
7. Gabriele Tarquini SR Sport SEAT León TDI + 1.375 6
8. Tom Coronel NED SR Sport SEAT León TDI + 1.404 7
9. Darryl O’Young (I) HKG Bamboo Chevrolet Lacetti + 1.756 10
10. Colin Turkington AVIVA-COFCO WSR BMW 320si + 2.183 9
11. Franz Engstler (I) Team Engstler BMW 320si + 2.216 9
12. Kristian Poulsen (I) DEN Poulsen Motorsport BMW 320si + 2.571 9
13. André Couto MAC SR Sport SEAT León TDI + 2.644 9
14. Augusto Farfus RBM Team BMW 320si + 2.721 9
15. Fredy Barth SUNRED SEAT León TDI + 3.107 9
16. Sergio Hernández (I) Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si + 3.217 8
17. Michel Nykjær DEN SUNRED SEAT León TDI + 3.276 10
18. Mehdi Bennani (I) MOR Wiechers Sport BMW 320si + 5.160 11
19. Nobuteru Taniguchi (I) JPN_thumb[2] Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si + 5.188 10
20. César Campaniço (I) POR Novadriver Total BMW 320si + 5.601 10
21. Kevin Chen (I) TWN Scuderia Proteam BMW 320si + 5.613 9
22. Yukinori Taniguchi (I) JPN_thumb[2] Bamboo Chevrolet Lacetti + 7.114 11
23. Henry Ho (I) MAC Ho Chun Kei BMW 320si + 7.781 9
24. Joseph Merszei (I) MAC Team Engstler BMW 320si + 9.353 9
25. Masaki Kano (I) JPN_thumb[2] Team Engstler BMW 320si + 11.205 9
26. Philip Ma (I) HKG Jacob & Co Honda Accord Euro + 11.531 9
27. Andrei Romanov (I) RUS_thumb[2] Team Engstler BMW 320si + 25.692 3
28. Io Keong Kuok (I) MAC RPM Racing Honda Accord Euro no time  
29. Kin Man Chan (I) MAC Andy Racing Honda Civic no time  

[Original images via FIA WTCC official site]

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Richard Bailey

Founder & Chief Editor at MotorsportM8
Hasn't missed a Grand Prix since 1989. Has a soft spot for Minardi. Tattooed with 35+ Grand Prix circuits.
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