Huff fastest again in final session

Rob Huff repeated his morning form to set the pace in the final World Touring Car Championship practice session ahead of Macau qualifying on Friday afternoon.

The Briton’s lap of 2m31.061s was 0.274 seconds faster than championship outsider and RML Chevrolet team-mate Yvan Muller.

The three remaining drivers in contention for the 2012 drivers’ crown occupied the top three positions in free practice two, as Alain Menu took third spot.

The Swiss racer’s Cruze sported a broken left-front wing mirror on his return to the pits, evidence of Menu’s efforts to run in close proximity to the Macau armco.

For more insight from the Macau WTCC and F3 weekend read our rolling Macau GP news blog.

Gabriele Tarquini ended the afternoon as top non-Chevrolet driver in fourth, although there may be concerns at Lukoil SEAT over the Italian’s 1.4s deficit to Huff’s benchmark.

The progress of the Honda Civic WTCC in Macau was confirmed by Tiago’s Monteiro’s fifth place in free practice two. The former grand prix driver had been fastest of all in Thursday’s test.

Norbert Michelisz’s hopes of defending his Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy points lead were bolstered by sixth place, fastest in class.

After crashing heavily at Mandarin corner on Thursday, Darryl O’Young showed no ill effects to secure seventh for Bamboo Engineering.

Shanghai double Yokohama victor Stefano D’Aste sustained light damage to his Wiechers-Sport BMW after making contact with the wall at Police.

Mehdi Bennani also found the barriers. The Moroccan scuffed the tyre barriers at Lisboa, but despite damage to his rear wheel arch Bennani recovered to the pits.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car                Time       Gap
  1.  Rob Huff           Chevrolet               2m31.061s
  2.  Yvan Muller        Chevrolet               2m31.335s  + 0.274s
  3.  Alain Menu         Chevrolet               2m31.630s  + 0.569s
  4.  Gabriele Tarquini  Lukoil SEAT             2m32.420s  + 1.359s
  5.  Tiago Monteiro     Honda                   2m32.995s  + 1.934s
  6.  Norbert Michelisz  Zengo BMW               2m33.802s  + 2.741s
  7.  Darryl O’Young     Bamboo Chevrolet        2m33.814s  + 2.753s
  8.  Pepe Oriola        Tuenti SEAT             2m33.836s  + 2.775s
  9.  Tom Coronel        ROAL BMW                2m33.931s  + 2.870s
 10.  Tom Boardman       Special Tuning SEAT     2m34.488s  + 3.427s
 11.  Fredy Barth        SUNRED SEAT             2m34.492s  + 3.431s
 12.  Franz Engstler     Engstler BMW            2m34.632s  + 3.571s
 13.  Alex MacDowall     Bamboo Chevrolet        2m34.938s  + 3.877s
 14.  Stefano D’Aste     Wiechers BMW            2m34.974s  + 3.913s
 15.  Mehdi Bennani      Proteam BMW             2m35.079s  + 4.018s
 16.  Charles Ng         Engstler BMW            2m35.498s  + 4.437s
 17.  Aleksei Dudukalo   Lukoil SEAT             2m35.850s  + 4.789s
 18.  Fernando Monje     Tuenti SEAT             2m36.282s  + 5.221s
 19.  James Nash         Arena Ford              2m36.349s  + 5.288s
 20.  Tom Chilton        Arena Ford              2m36.653s  + 5.592s
 21.  Andre Couto        Tuenti SEAT             2m36.834s  + 5.773s
 22.  Henry Ho           Five Auto BMW           2m41.451s  + 10.390s
 23.  Jo Rosa Merzsei    Engstler BMW            2m41.536s  + 10.475s
 24.  Eurico de Jesus    Five Auto Honda         2m43.515s  + 12.454s
 25.  Celio Alves Dias   China Dragon Chevrolet  2m44.147s  + 13.086s
 26.  Kin Veng Ng        China Dragon Chevrolet  2m44.423s  + 13.362s
 27.  Ka Lok Mak         RPM BMW                 2m47.635s  + 16.574s
 28.  Filipe de Souza    China Dragon Chevrolet
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/touring-cars/wtcc/huff-fastest-again-in-final-session

Jeffrey Tyler Burton Richard Allen Craven Kerry Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr