Farfus sets early pace at Macau
Augusto Farfus set the quickest time of the first World Touring Car session at Macau today
The Brazilian, who won on his debut at Macau in 2005, posted his best effort on the last lap of the half hour session in his BMW 320si.
"The first laps at Macau are always very tricky, so no one is really pushing - it was the same for me. I drove very carefully today because this track doesn't forgive any mistake.
"However, I'm happy with the way we have begun the weekend - the car looks good and is well balanced. We have started at a reasonable level, but for sure the others will catch up soon.
"Let's wait until tomorrow morning, after the two practice sessions we will have a better idea of how qualifying will be."
Briton James Thompson was second fastest in his N.Technology Honda Accord and is hoping that he can maintain that strong form for the rest of the weekend.
"I'm pretty chuffed actually," he said. "It's difficult to say how quick we'll be, but the team have done an outstanding job as usual.
"I'm hoping we can keep this up. If you're quick in first practice, it's usually a good indicator for the rest of the weekend."
Chevrolet's Nicola Larini was third fastest, with Felix Porteiro fourth for BMW and the other two Chevrolets of Alain Menu and Rob Huff fifth and sixth.
Championship leader Yvan Muller was the best of the SEATs in seventh place, with title rival Gabriele Tarquini just a couple of tenths behind in eighth.
The field was tightly packed at the front, with just eight tenths of a second covering the top 12 cars around the 3.8-mile street circuit.
The session was interrupted just once when Jaap van Lagen crashed at Curva R on his out lap and blocked the track.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Augusto Farfus BMW 320Si 2:33.624 2. James Thompson Honda Accord 2:33.711 +0.087 3. Nicola Larini Chevrolet Lacetti 2:33.793 +0.169 4. Felix Porteiro BMW 320Si 2:33.815 +0.191 5. Alain Menu Chevrolet Lacetti 2:33.889 +0.265 6. Robert Huff Chevrolet Lacetti 2:33.914 +0.290 7. Yvan Muller Seat Leon 2:34.024 +0.400 8. Gabriele Tarquini Seat Leon 2:34.234 +0.610 9. Tiago Monteiro Seat Leon 2:34.285 +0.661 10. Alessandro Zanardi BMW 320Si 2:34.325 +0.701 11. Rickard Rydell Seat Leon 2:34.363 +0.739 12. Jordi Gene Seat Leon 2:34.433 +0.809 13. Andy Priaulx BMW 320Si 2:35.282 +1.658 14. Tom Coronel Seat Leon 2:35.342 +1.718 15. Jorg Muller BMW 320Si 2:35.884 +2.260 16. Sergio Hernandez BMW 320Si 2:36.031 +2.407 17. Franz Engstler BMW 320Si 2:36.201 +2.577 18. Andre Couto Honda Accord 2:37.956 +4.332 19. Manabu Orido Chevrolet Lacetti 2:38.961 +5.337 20. Takayuki Aoki BMW 320Si 2:39.129 +5.505 21. Matthew Marsh BMW 320Si 2:39.701 +6.077 22. Kirill Ladygin Lada 110 2:42.204 +8.580 23. George Tanev BMW 320Si 2:44.516 +10.892 24. Joseph Meszei Honda Civic 2:45.445 +11.821 25. Andrei Romanov BMW 320Si 2:46.419 +12.795 26. Viktor Shapovalov Lada 110 2:46.573 +12.949 27. Lei Kit Meng Toyota Altezza 2:47.382 +13.758 28. Masaki Kano BMW 320I 2:51.330 +17.706 29. Ibrahim Okyay BMW 320Si 2:52.273 +18.649 30. Melvin Choo BMW 320Si 3:09.467 +35.843
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