Practice 1: Yvan Muller on top

Yvan Muller emerged as the fastest man in the first free practice session at Macau with a lap time of 2:32.789. The SEAT Sport driver’s time was 0.078 faster than Alessandro Zanardi’s best lap. Zanardi promoted himself to second on his penultimate lap but his BMW 320si had to limp home to the pits after getting too close to the barriers and suffering a right rear puncture on the last lap.

André Couto was placed third on the timesheet after clocking a 2:33.037 for the Alfa Romeo N.technology team.

Red flags disrupted the session with 16 minutes left on the clock after Michel Jourdain hit the barrier at Paiol bend and became stranded on the track. Pierre-Yves Corthals drove into Jourdain’s SEAT León meaning both had to be removed.

Jörg Müller claimed the fourth fastest time of the field with a lap in 2:33.054 while his BMW Team Germany companion Augusto Farfus was sixth fastest (2:33.288). The duo were separated on the timesheet by Tiago Monteiro who achieved a 2:33.187.

Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell of SEAT Sport set the seventh and eighth fastest times followed by Andy Priaulx of BMW Team UK and Rob Huff of Chevrolet.

The Independents’ category was dominated by Luca Rangoni of Proteam Motorsport who drove his BMW 320si around the street circuit in 2:34.350 which was the 14th best time.

“It is good to be the quickest but it is only free practice and we don’t know if everyone else is using their fastest set-up yet.

“I was concerned about the competitiveness of the diesel cars on this track yesterday because the car was very heavy in the twisty part of the track. We will work hard to find the best set-up,” said Yvan Muller.