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USA
Practice report

Macau WTCR: Huff sets new lap record, tops practice

Rob Huff set a new TCR lap record of the Guia circuit to top World Touring Car Cup practice for this weekend's season finale in Macau.

Rob Huff, Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR

Rob Huff, Sébastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR

Malcolm Griffiths

Huff, a nine-time winner of the Guia race, set a best time of 2m29.766s in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI in FP2 to head Thursday's second half-hour practice session by 0.533 seconds from Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic driver Yann Ehrlacher.

That benchmark time was more than 1.7sec faster than the previous best TCR lap in Macau, which was also set by Huff when he contested the TCR International Series finale in 2015, although it had already been beaten in FP1 by WRT Audi driver Jean-Karl Vernay.

Vernay's fastest time in the first session, a 2m31.328s, had given him top spot by 0.575s from Esteban Guerrieri (Munnich Motorsport Honda), while Huff was third.

Title contender Yvan Muller, who is second overall but 39 points behind leader Gabriele Tarquini, ended FP2 in third in his YMR Hyundai i30 N ahead of Vernay's RS3 LMS and the second Golf of Mehdi Bennani.

Guerrieri ended FP2 sixth, 0.805s off the pace after improving on his final lap, ahead of 2017 World Touring Car champion Thed Bjork, who is one of seven drivers still in contention to claim the inaugural WTCR title.

BRC Racing Hyundai pair Norbert Michelisz and Tarquini were eighth and ninth, while Ma Qing Hua - making his third appearance of the season in place of Tiago Monteiro at Honda outfit Boutsen Ginion - rounded out the top 10.

Kevin Ceccon was the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo operation's lead representative in FP2 in 12th, ahead of the highest-placed non-Hyundai driver in the points standings, Pepe Oriola (Campos Racing Cupra).

Andre Couto, the 2000 Macau Grand Prix winner, was the fastest of the six wildcard entrants contesting the event in FP2, lapping his MacPro Racing Honda Civic 6.264s slower than Huff's benchmark. Kevin Tse Wing Kin (Audi RS3 LMS) had been fastest of the six additional entrants in first practice.

Second practice

Cla # Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 12 United Kingdom Rob Huff Volkswagen 10 2'29.766     147.109
2 68 France Yann Ehrlacher Honda 10 2'30.299 0.533 0.533 146.587
3 48 France Yvan Muller Hyundai 9 2'30.448 0.682 0.149 146.442
4 69 France Jean-Karl Vernay Audi 9 2'30.450 0.684 0.002 146.440
5 25 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Volkswagen 11 2'30.540 0.774 0.090 146.353
6 86 Argentina Esteban Guerrieri Honda 10 2'30.571 0.805 0.031 146.322
7 11 Sweden Thed Björk Hyundai 9 2'30.885 1.119 0.314 146.018
8 5 Hungary Norbert Michelisz Hyundai 9 2'31.013 1.247 0.128 145.894
9 30 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Hyundai 9 2'31.594 1.828 0.581 145.335
10 55 China Ma Qing Hua Honda 10 2'31.740 1.974 0.146 145.195
11 42 Germany Timo Scheider Honda 10 2'31.824 2.058 0.084 145.115
12 31 Italy Kevin Ceccon Alfa Romeo 11 2'32.007 2.241 0.183 144.940
13 74 Spain Pepe Oriola  Seat 5 2'32.084 2.318 0.077 144.867
14 23 France Nathanael Berthon Audi 10 2'32.234 2.468 0.150 144.724
15 27 France John Filippi Seat 9 2'32.434 2.668 0.200 144.534
16 22 Belgium Frederic Vervisch Audi 9 2'32.551 2.785 0.117 144.423
17 16 Italy Luigi Ferrara Alfa Romeo 8 2'32.837 3.071 0.286 144.153
18 21 France Aurelien Panis Audi 9 2'33.040 3.274 0.203 143.962
19 7 France Aurélien Comte Peugeot 11 2'33.234 3.468 0.194 143.780
20 70 Slovakia Mato Homola Peugeot 8 2'33.305 3.539 0.071 143.713
21 52 United Kingdom Gordon Shedden Audi 11 2'33.320 3.554 0.015 143.699
22 9 Netherlands Tom Coronel Honda 10 2'33.775 4.009 0.455 143.274
23 20 Belgium Denis Dupont Audi 4 2'34.864 5.098 1.089 142.266
24 89 Andre Couto Honda 10 2'36.030 6.264 1.166 141.203
25 60 Filipe Souza Audi 9 2'36.652 6.886 0.622 140.642
26 36 Lo Kai Audi 10 2'37.545 7.779 0.893 139.845
27 28 Kevin Tse Audi 10 2'38.388 8.622 0.843 139.101
28 8 Hungary Norbert Nagy Seat 7 2'38.457 8.691 0.069 139.040
29 6 Rui Valente Volkswagen 11 2'41.160 11.394 2.703 136.708
30 66 Hungary Zsolt Szabo Seat 5 2'41.282 11.516 0.122 136.605
31 77 Lam Kam Audi 9 2'43.080 13.314 1.798 135.099

First Practice

Cla # Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 69 France Jean-Karl Vernay Audi 11 2'31.328     145.591
2 86 Argentina Esteban Guerrieri Honda 10 2'31.903 0.575 0.575 145.039
3 12 United Kingdom Rob Huff Volkswagen 10 2'32.297 0.969 0.394 144.664
4 48 France Yvan Muller Hyundai 10 2'32.513 1.185 0.216 144.459
5 5 Hungary Norbert Michelisz Hyundai 10 2'32.758 1.430 0.245 144.228
6 68 France Yann Ehrlacher Honda 11 2'32.800 1.472 0.042 144.188
7 11 Sweden Thed Björk Hyundai 11 2'33.067 1.739 0.267 143.936
8 25 Morocco Mehdi Bennani Volkswagen 10 2'33.340 2.012 0.273 143.680
9 74 Spain Pepe Oriola Seat 8 2'33.381 2.053 0.041 143.642
10 21 France Aurelien Panis Audi 10 2'34.098 2.770 0.717 142.973
11 42 Germany Timo Scheider Honda 11 2'34.259 2.931 0.161 142.824
12 30 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Hyundai 10 2'34.293 2.965 0.034 142.793
13 23 France Nathanael Berthon Audi 11 2'34.356 3.028 0.063 142.734
14 27 France John Filippi Seat 8 2'34.530 3.202 0.174 142.574
15 70 Slovakia Mato Homola Peugeot 10 2'34.562 3.234 0.032 142.544
16 52 United Kingdom Gordon Shedden Audi 10 2'34.727 3.399 0.165 142.392
17 16 Italy Luigi Ferrara Alfa Romeo 10 2'35.214 3.886 0.487 141.945
18 22 Belgium Frederic Vervisch Audi 10 2'35.410 4.082 0.196 141.766
19 31 Italy Kevin Ceccon Alfa Romeo 10 2'35.606 4.278 0.196 141.588
20 7 France Aurélien Comte Peugeot 11 2'35.881 4.553 0.275 141.338
21 55 China Ma Qing Hua Honda 10 2'35.916 4.588 0.035 141.306
22 20 Belgium Denis Dupont Audi 11 2'35.944 4.616 0.028 141.281
23 28 Kevin Tse Audi 11 2'36.819 5.491 0.875 140.493
24 9 Netherlands Tom Coronel Honda 10 2'37.222 5.894 0.403 140.133
25 60 Filipe Souza Audi 6 2'37.452 6.124 0.230 139.928
26 89 Andre Couto Honda 10 2'37.727 6.399 0.275 139.684
27 36 Lo Kai Audi 9 2'38.280 6.952 0.553 139.196
28 6 Rui Valente Volkswagen 10 2'42.958 11.630 4.678 135.200
29 77 Lam Kam Audi 8 2'45.582 14.254 2.624 133.057
30 66 Hungary Zsolt Szabo Seat 2        
31 8 Hungary Norbert Nagy Seat

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