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WTCR Macau: Rob Huff smashes TCR lap record to top practice

Rob Huff set a new TCR lap record of the Guia circuit to top World Touring Car Cup practice for this weekend's season finale in Macau

Huff, a nine-time winner of the Guia race, set a best time of 2m29.766s in his Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI in FP2 to head Thursday's second half-hour practice session by 0.533 seconds from Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic driver Yann Ehrlacher.

That benchmark time was more than 1.7s faster than the previous best TCR lap in Macau, which was also set by Huff when he contested the TCR International Series finale in 2015, although it had already been beaten in FP1 by WRT Audi driver Jean-Karl Vernay.

Vernay's fastest time in the first session, a 2m31.328s, had given him top spot by 0.575s from Esteban Guerrieri (Munnich Motorsport Honda), while Huff was third.

Title contender Yvan Muller, who is second overall but 39 points behind leader Gabriele Tarquini, ended FP2 in third in his YMR Hyundai i30 N ahead of Vernay's RS3 LMS and the second Golf of Mehdi Bennani.

Guerrieri ended FP2 sixth, 0.805s off the pace after improving on his final lap, ahead of 2017 World Touring Car champion Thed Bjork - who is also part of a group of seven drivers still in contention to claim the inaugural WTCR title.

BRC Racing Hyundai pair Norbert Michelisz and Tarquini were eighth and ninth, while Ma Qing Hua - making his third appearance of the season in place of Tiago Monteiro at Honda outfit Boutsen Ginion - rounded out the top 10.

Kevin Ceccon was the Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo operation's lead representative in FP2 in 12th, ahead of the highest-placed non-Hyundai driver in the points standings, Pepe Oriola (Campos Racing Cupra).

Andre Couto, the 2000 Macau Grand Prix winner, was the fastest of the six wildcard entrants contesting the event in FP2, lapping his MacPro Racing Honda Civic 6.264s slower than Huff's benchmark.

Kevin Tse Wing Kin (Audi RS3 LMS) had been fastest of the six additional entrants in first practice.

Practice one result

Pos Driver Team Car Gap Laps
1 Jean-Karl Vernay WRT Audi 2m31.328s 11
2 Esteban Guerrieri Munnich Motorsport Honda 0.575s 10
3 Rob Huff Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen 0.969s 10
4 Yvan Muller YMR Hyundai 1.185s 10
5 Norbert Michelisz BRC Racing Team Hyundai 1.430s 10
6 Yann Ehrlacher Munnich Motorsport Honda 1.472s 11
7 Thed Bjork YMR Hyundai 1.739s 11
8 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen 2.012s 10
9 Pepe Oriola Campos Racing Cupra 2.053s 8
10 Aurelien Panis Comtoyou Racing Audi 2.770s 10
11 Timo Scheider Munnich Motorsport Honda 2.931s 11
12 Gabriele Tarquini BRC Racing Team Hyundai 2.965s 10
13 Nathanael Berthon Comtoyou Racing Audi 3.028s 11
14 John Filippi Campos Racing Cupra 3.202s 8
15 Mat'o Homola DG Sport Competition Peugeot 3.234s 10
16 Gordon Shedden WRT Audi 3.399s 10
17 Luigi Ferrara Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo 3.886s 10
18 Frederic Vervisch Comtoyou Racing Audi 4.082s 10
19 Kevin Ceccon Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo 4.278s 10
20 Aurelien Comte DG Sport Competition Peugeot 4.553s 11
21 Ma Qinghua Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda 4.588s 10
22 Denis Dupont Comtoyou Racing Audi 4.616s 11
23 Kevin Tse Team Work Motorsport Audi 5.491s 11
24 Tom Coronel Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda 5.894s 10
25 Filipe Souza Champ Motorsport Audi 6.124s 6
26 Andre Couto MacPro Racing Team Honda 6.399s 10
27 Billy Lo Tian Shi Zuver Team Audi 6.952s 9
28 Rui Valente PCT Racing Team Volkswagen 11.630s 10
29 Kam San Lam Champ Motorsport Audi 14.254s 8
30 Zsolt Szabo Zengo Motorsport Cupra - 2
31 Norbert Nagy Zengo Motorsport Cupra - 0

Practice two result

Pos Driver Team Car Gap Laps
1 Rob Huff Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen 2m29.766s 10
2 Yann Ehrlacher Munnich Motorsport Honda 0.533s 10
3 Yvan Muller YMR Hyundai 0.682s 9
4 Jean-Karl Vernay WRT Audi 0.684s 9
5 Mehdi Bennani Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen 0.774s 11
6 Esteban Guerrieri Munnich Motorsport Honda 0.805s 10
7 Thed Bjork YMR Hyundai 1.119s 9
8 Norbert Michelisz BRC Racing Team Hyundai 1.247s 9
9 Gabriele Tarquini BRC Racing Team Hyundai 1.828s 9
10 Ma Qinghua Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda 1.974s 10
11 Timo Scheider Munnich Motorsport Honda 2.058s 10
12 Kevin Ceccon Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo 2.241s 11
13 Pepe Oriola Campos Racing Cupra 2.318s 5
14 Nathanael Berthon Comtoyou Racing Audi 2.468s 10
15 John Filippi Campos Racing Cupra 2.668s 9
16 Frederic Vervisch Comtoyou Racing Audi 2.785s 9
17 Luigi Ferrara Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo 3.071s 8
18 Aurelien Panis Comtoyou Racing Audi 3.274s 9
19 Aurelien Comte DG Sport Competition Peugeot 3.468s 11
20 Mat'o Homola DG Sport Competition Peugeot 3.539s 8
21 Gordon Shedden WRT Audi 3.554s 11
22 Tom Coronel Boutsen Ginion Racing Honda 4.009s 10
23 Denis Dupont Comtoyou Racing Audi 5.098s 4
24 Andre Couto MacPro Racing Team Honda 6.264s 10
25 Filipe Souza Champ Motorsport Audi 6.886s 9
26 Billy Lo Tian Shi Zuver Team Audi 7.779s 10
27 Kevin Tse Team Work Motorsport Audi 8.622s 10
28 Norbert Nagy Zengo Motorsport Cupra 8.691s 7
29 Rui Valente PCT Racing Team Volkswagen 11.394s 11
30 Zsolt Szabo Zengo Motorsport Cupra 11.516s 5
31 Kam San Lam Champ Motorsport Audi 13.314s 9

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