Grosjean tops opening Macau practice

The Frenchman had moved to the top of timesheets with three minutes of practice remaining but moments later found himself unable to avoid an accident after Stephen Jelley slammed into the barriers at Police Bend and bounced back into his path.

The two cars ending up blocking the track, and Grosjean's ASM team will now have to work hard to repair the heavy damage to the left-hand side of his car before this afternoon's first qualifying session.

Raikkonen-Robertson Racing's Sebastien Buemi was second fastest, just ahead of British Formula Three champion Marko Asmer in the Hitech Racing car.

The session was red flagged once halfway through when Frenchman Frank Mailleux spun into the barriers at R Bend, and his car was left stranded in a dangerous position.

Other drivers to hit problems included Lei Kit Meng, who spun at Lisboa but avoided hitting anything, Walter Grubmuller who returned to the pits early on with damaged right rear suspension and Sam Bird who swiped the barriers at Lisboa.

Pos  Driver             Team                     Time     Laps
 1.  Romain Grosjean    ASM                      2:14.223  12
 2.  Sebastien Buemi    Raikkonen-Robertson      2:14.315  12
 3.  Marko Asmer        Hitech Racing            2:14.601  12
 4.  Robert Streit      Prema Powerteam          2:14.766  12
 5.  Kodai Tsukakoshi   Manor Motorsport         2:14.994  10
 6.  Edoardo Mortara    Signature Plus           2:15.617  11
 7.  Oliver Jarvis      Team Reckless Tom's      2:15.625  13
 8.  Stephen Jelley     Raikkonen-Robertson      2:15.724  11
 9.  Bruno Senna        Raikkonen-Robertson      2:15.759  12
10.  Nico Hulkenberg    ASM                      2:15.837  12
11.  Jonathan Kennard   Raikkonen-Robertson      2:15.862  12
12.  Kazuya Oshima      Team Reckless Tom's      2:15.940  13
13.  Kamui Kobayashi    ASM                      2:16.106  12
14.  Yelmer Buurman     Manor Motorsport         2:16.213  12
15.  James Jakes        Manor Motorsport         2:16.772  11
16.  Atte Mustonen      Signature Plus           2:17.060  12
17.  Esteban Guerrieri  Signature Plus           2:17.288  12
18.  Niall Breen        Carlin Motorsport        2:17.317  12
19.  Carlo van Dam      HBR Motorsport           2:17.466  12
20.  Brendon Hartley    Carlin Motorsport        2:19.115  11
21.  Takuya Izawa       Fortec Motorsport        2:19.256  12
22.  Sam Bird           Carlin Motorsport        2:19.731   6
23.  R. van der Zande   Prema Powerteam          2:20.149  11
24.  Frank Mailleux     Manor Motorsport         2:21.208   4
25.  Michael Ho         Hitech Racing            2:22.003   8
26.  Rodolfo Avila      HBR Motorsport           2:22.647   5
27.  Cheong Lou Meng    Swiss Racing Team        2:24.389   8
28.  Lei Kit Meng       Carlin Motorsport        2:27.459   9
29.  Jo Merszei         Swiss Racing Team        2:28.494   8
30.  Walter Grubmuller  Hitech Racing           13:22.351   2