Friday Practice: Monteiro sets pace
Portugal's Tiago Monteiro made full use of an improved set-up to put in the fastest time during Friday morning's free practice session ahead of final qualifying for the Macau Grand Prix. The ASM-Elf driver left it until the closing minutes of the session to push his car near the ultimate limit and set a time that out-paced pre-event favourite Takuma Sato
Monteiro's lap of 2m13.241s was just 0.112s faster than Sato, who also set his quickest time in the last few minutes of the session.
Sato, who consistently ran near the top of the time sheets throughout the session, worked on his set-up during the session and said he was pleased with the way his weekend was going. "The lap times in free practice do not count for anything, but it is good to know that we are still quick," he said.
Provisional pole position holder Italian Paolo Montin was unable to continue his record of leading every session after suffering a gearbox problem halfway through the session. The TOM'S driver could only manage the 12th best time.
Briton Anthony Davidson was forced to watch the session from the sidelines after being forced out of the Macau Grand Prix with a sore neck sustained in his crash during qualifying. Sweden's Bjorn Wirdheim continued his impressive weekend as he was the quickest rookie driver in seventh place.
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