Rob Huff fastest in disrupted test session at Macau

Münnich Motorsport’s Rob Huff was fastest of all in the first test session at the Macau circuit, setting the best time of 2:32.147 in his SEAT León WTCC. Huff outpaced the Honda of Norbert Michelisz and the Chevrolet of Yvan Muller to wind up fastest in the session, which was briefly interrupted with a red flag.

The Hondas and the Chevrolets looked strong throughout the first part of the session, with Honda Racing Team JAS’s Tiago Monteiro and the two Chevrolets of Pepe Oriola and Yvan Muller trading fastest times during the first 20 minutes.

The yellow flag was then out as newcomer Konstantins Calko moved his Campos Racing SEAT León up the escape road at Moorish Hill shortly after coming together with PB Racing’s Stefano D’Aste. The BMW driver returned to the pits with front-left damage, but was able to rejoin later in the session.

Shortly afterwards, the session was then red flagged when Yukinori Taniguchi spun out at the first corner. The Japanese driver, making his debut this weekend with Nika Racing, spun across the track into the inside wall, damaging the front of the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T.

When the session resumed, Tiago Monteiro briefly jumped to the top of the time sheets but his time was immediately outdone by outgoing champion Rob Huff, who set two laps in the 2:32.1s to secure the fastest time of the session.

Norbert Michelisz finished second for the Zengõ Motorsport team with Yvan Muller third in the RML Chevrolet.

Tiago Monteiro’s Honda and Pepe Oriola’s Tuenti Racing Chevrolet completed the top five, with Stefano D’Aste the fastest of the BMW drivers in sixth, as well as being the top Yokohama Trophy driver.

The two Yokohama Trophy title contending bamboo Chevrolets of Alex MacDowall and James Nash were 13th and 16th fastest.

In the Eurosport Asia Trophy classification, Michael Soong was fastest for Campos Racing, finishing 22nd fastest, 7.8 seconds off the pace.

The next session is Free Practice 1 which takes place on Friday at 8:30