Farfus fastest in third straight practice
Augusto Farfus was fastest once again in final free practice for the World Touring Car Championship season finale in Macau on Friday - after escaping a brush with the barriers
The BMW driver has been the fastest man all weekend, but showed how hard he was pushing to keep that spot when he ran slightly wide at Lisboa halfway through final practice. His car scraped the tyre wall on the left and knocked off his left hand mirror - but there was no significant damage.
He came into the pits for some hasty mirror repairs and, with teammate Jorg Muller the fastest man at that point, Farfus put together his fastest lap in the closing seconds of the session to head the timesheet once again.
"I am looking forward to qualifying," said Farfus. "As far as that incident is concerned, it was just a question of being on the limit - and here the track is very narrow."
Behind Muller, Chevrolet's Alain Menu was third quickest, ahead of James Thompson in the N. Technology Honda Accord and Nicola Larini in another Chevrolet.
Championship leader Yvan Muller, who could clinch the championship in the first of Sunday's two races, was sixth quickest for SEAT as he continued his steady preparation for the finale.
But there was bad news for another SEAT driver. Dutchman Tom Coronel ran wide at Lisboa Bend early in the session and heavily clouted the wall on the outside before coming to a stop further down the track. Practice had to be red flagged so safety crews could retrieve his badly damaged car.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Augusto Farfus BMW 320si 2:32.786 2. Jorg Muller BMW 320si 2:32.830 +0.044 3. Alain Menu Chevrolet Lacetti 2:32.988 +0.202 4. James Thompson Honda Accord 2:33.062 +0.276 5. Nicola Larini Chevrolet Lacetti 2:33.081 +0.325 6. Yvan Muller SEAT Leon TDi 2:33.111 +0.325 7. Rob Huff Chevrolet Lacetti 2:33.111 +0.325 8. Andy Priaulx BMW 320si 2:33.313 +0.527 9. Alex Zanardi BMW 320si 2:33.584 +0.798 10. Tiago Monteiro SEAT Leon TDi 2:33.664 +0.878 11. Rickard Rydell SEAT Leon TDi 2:33.975 +1.189 12. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Leon TDi 2:34.150 +1.364 13. Jordi Gene SEAT Leon TDi 2:34.262 +1.476 14. Tom Coronel SEAT Leon 2:34.476 +1.690 15. Sergio Hernandez BMW 320si 2:35.602 +2.816 16. Andre Couto Honda Accord 2:35.865 +3.079 17. Takayuki Aoki BMW 320si 2:36.055 +3.269 18. Manabu Orido Chevrolet Lacetti 2:36.747 +3.961 19. Jaap van Lagen Lada 110 2:37.452 +4.666 20. Matthew Marsh BMW 320si 2:39.085 +6.299 21. Andrei Romanov BMW 320si 2:40.195 +7.409 22. George Tanev BMW 320si 2:40.699 +7.913 23. Ibrahim Okyay BMW 320si 2:40.750 +7.964 24. Viktor Shapovalov Lada 110 2:40.874 +8.088 25. Franz Engstler BMW 320si 2:41.616 +8.830 26. Kirill Ladygin Lada 110 2:43.159 +10.373 27. Felix Porteiro BMW 320si 2:44.260 +11.474 28. Masaki Kano BMW 320i 2:44.589 +11.803 29. Melvin Choo BMW 320si no time
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