Montin fastest in Macau practice 1

With lap times improving throughout first practice as drivers got up to speed around the Guia circuit, Montin moved to the top of the timesheets with three minutes of the session remaining before bettering his best time in the final minute.

The Italian's quickest lap of two minutes 14.192 seconds was just over two tenths faster than Manor Motorsport's di Grassi, who took the second slot in the final minute of practice.

"We stuck to our plan in that session," said Montin, who is competing in Macau for the fifth time this year. "I had a small problem with the brakes but it is nothing to worry about."

Di Grassi, who finished third in last year's Macau Grand Prix, said: "I am pretty happy. The track is nice and the car felt nice. I just spent my time getting used to the car around this track."

The biggest surprise of first practice was the form of Macau rookie Sebastian Vettel, who has been drafted in by the ASM team. The German set the third fastest time in the final lap of the incident-free practice session.

"That result was a surprise," admitted Vettel. "The track is amazing, and I am still learning it, but despite some traffic I am pretty happy with everything."

Vettel's teammate Loic Duval was fifth quickest, behind Japan's Kazuki Nakajima, but had no complaints about the result.

"That was not bad for the first session," said the Frenchman. "There was a lot of traffic out there, so it was difficult to get a clear lap. I will make a few changes before qualifying, but I am pretty happy."

The leading British driver was Manor Motorsport's Mike Conway, who was 11th fastest, just one place ahead of Danny Watts.

Pos  Driver               Car                   Time     Laps
 1.  Paolo Montin         Dallara Honda-Mugen   2:14.192  12
 2.  Lucas Di Grassi      Dallara Mercedes      2:14.402  13 
 3.  Sebastian Vettel     Dallara Mercedes      2:14.637  12 
 4.  Kazuki Nakajima      Dallara Toyota        2:14.906  12 
 5.  Loic Duval           Dallara Mercedes      2:14.931  12 
 6.  Robert Kubica        Dallara Honda-Mugen   2:15.094  13 
 7.  Joao P De Oliveira   Dallara Toyota        2:15.107  12 
 8.  Franck Perera        Dallara Opel          2:15.260  12 
 9.  Naoki Yokomizo       Dallara Nissan        2:15.425  13 
10.  Fabio Carbone        SLC Opel              2:15.602  13 
11.  Mike Conway          Dallara Mercedes      2:15.824  13 
12.  Danny Watts          Dallara Toyota        2:15.858  13 
13.  Daisuke Ikeda        Dallara Toyota        2:16.607  13 
14.  Christian Bakkerud   Dallara Honda-Mugen   2:16.676  12 
15.  Bruno Senna          Dallara Honda-Mugen   2:16.677  13 
16.  Kohei Hirate         Dallara Opel          2:16.724  13 
17.  Guillaume Moreau     Dallara Opel          2:16.849  13 
18.  Taku Bamba           Dallara Toyota        2:17.261  13 
19.  Steven Kane          Lola Honda-Mugen      2:17.347  13 
20.  Charlie Kimball      Dallara Honda-Mugen   2:17.676  12 
21.  Dan Clarke           Dallara Opel          2:17.777  12 
22.  Romain Grosjean      Dallara Opel          2:18.465  13 
23.  Karl Reindler        Dallara Honda-Mugen   2:18.478  13 
24.  Michael Ho           Dallara Toyota        2:18.816  10 
25.  Rodolfo Avila        Dallara Mercedes      2:20.645  11 
26.  Stephen Jelley       Dallara Opel          2:20.670  13 
27.  Cheong Lou Meng      Dallara Honda-Mugen   2:22.793   8 
28.  Lei Kit Meng         Dallara Opel          2:23.155  12 
29.  Fillip Salaquarda    Dallara Opel          2:24.331  10  
30.  Jo Merszei           Dallara Honda-Mugen   2:26.713   9