Manning stays top in practice at Macau

as he once again set the fastest time during Friday morning's free practice session.
The TOM'S driver, who has been quickest in every session held so far, edged out last year's pole position man Robert Lechner by eight-tenths of a second.

'Everything is looking good,' admitted Manning. 'The car has improved since yesterday, but I don't want to say too much about my chances until Sunday night.

'I am still on old tyres, so I've got good reason to feel happy.'

Briton Jenson Button was the leading rookie driver, posting the fourth best time, and he was clearly delighted with his impressive performance.

'It's going well, but we must remember that this is only practice,' said the Promatecme driver, who is still on his first set of tyres.

'It's a bit disappointing that there is such a big gap between Manning and the rest of the
field, but I'm looking to get a place on the front row of the grid. I still feel I can push a bit harder.'

Indian Narain Karthikeyan was unsure about his chances of taking part in qualifying after crashing his Paul Stewart Racing car on the run out of the Melco hairpin.

'There was some cement dust down and I went off the track,' he said. 'The car ricocheted down the barriers on both sides of the circuit and that was it.

'I think I have cracked the tub and I am not sure if it can be repaired.'

Japanese Ryo Fukuda caused the session to be red-flagged when he spun off backwards into the barriers at the final corner.

Briton Andrew Kirkaldy also ran down an escape road.