Huff tops first practice at Macau
Rob Huff kept up his challenge to finish second in the World Touring Car Championship with the quickest time in Friday's opening practice session
The Chevrolet driver, who had been fastest in testing on Thursday, moved to the top of the timesheet with three minutes of practice remaining to edge out BMW's Andy Priaulx by 0.262 seconds.
"The car is feeling good," said Huff. "We made a few changes to the car overnight, but the track conditions are improving so much that it is hard to feel the difference they have made.
"In fact, I feel there is more to come from the track itself rather than the car, so I am very pleased at the moment."
Priaulx, who is also chasing the runners-up spot in the drivers' title chase behind Yvan Muller, escaped a brush with the barriers at Dona Maria Bend to set the second quickest time.
Portugal's Tiago Monteiro was third quickest in the SEAT, ahead of the fellow SEAT driver Norbert Michelisz from Hungary.
Chevrolet's Muller, who secured the drivers' crown ahead of this weekend's race in Macau, ended the session fifth overall ahead of team-mate Alain Menu and last year's champion Gabriele Tarquini - who ran down the escape road at Lisboa near the end of the session but was able to rejoin without trouble.
The only notable incident during the 30-minute session was caused by Fredy Barth in a SEAT, who spun on the exit of Mandarin Bend and hit the barriers on the right hand side of the track. He was able to get his car back to the pits though.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1. Rob Huff Chevrolet 2m32.272s 8
2. Andy Priaulx BMW 2m32.534s +0.262 10
3. Tiago Monteiro SEAT 2m32.961s +0.689 10
4. Norbert Michelisz SEAT 2m33.086s +0.814 9
5. Yvan Muller Chevrolet 2m33.123s +0.851 9
6. Alain Menu Chevrolet 2m33.353s +1.081 8
7. Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 2m33.647s +1.375 6
8. Tom Coronel SEAT 2m33.676s +1.404 7
9. Darryl O'Young Chevrolet 2m34.028s +1.756 10
10. Colin Turkington BMW 2m34.455s +2.183 9
11. Franz Engstler BMW 2m34.488s +2.216 9
12. Kristian Poulsen BMW 2m34.843s +2.571 9
13. Andre Couto SEAT 2m34.916s +2.644 9
14. Augusto Farfus BMW 2m34.993s +2.721 9
15. Fredy Barth SEAT 2m35.379s +3.107 9
16. Sergio Hernandez BMW 2m35.489s +3.217 8
17. Michel Nykjaer SEAT 2m35.548s +3.276 10
18. Mehdi Bennani BMW 2m37.432s +5.160 11
19. Nobuteru Taniguchi BMW 2m37.460s +5.188 10
20. Cesar Campanico BMW 2m37.873s +5.601 10
21. Kevin Chen BMW 2m37.885s +5.613 9
22. Yukinori Taniguchi Chevrolet 2m39.386s +7.114 11
23. Henry Ho BMW 2m40.053s +7.781 9
24. Jo Merszei BMW 2m41.625s +9.353 9
25. Masaki Kano BMW 2m43.477s +11.205 9
26. Philip Ma Honda 2m43.803s +11.531 9
27. Andrey Romanov BMW 2m57.964s +25.692 3
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