Pepe Oriola has more pace in his back pocket at Macau

Pepe Oriola was second in today’s Free Practice 2 in Macau. The Craft-Bamboo Racing SEAT title contender was 1.1 seconds shy of pace-setter Rob Huff’s Honda, but he says he can do more.

“The car is OK, but I haven’t used any new tyres during the session,” said the Spaniard to TouringCarTimes. “I think I can do better than this, but at the same time it is still a good basis for the rest of the weekend.”

Speaking on tomorrow’s qualifying session, Oriola has a different view compared to Craft-Bamboo Lukoil team-mate Jordi Gené, who will go flat out straight from the beginning of the session: “I will do a lap to get into the top ten, push a little more in the second and then go flat out in the third. You never know what’s going to happen and when you will have the chance to do a clean lap, this is Macau!”

When asked if he expected title rival Stefano Comini to be so close to him, the Spaniard argued the gap is still quite consistent. “It’s still half a second, that would mean a lot in normal conditions. Having said that, I knew from even before the weekend that Stefano would be the quickest of the Macau rookies. He has had an hour on the track and he learns very quickly. I am not saying that the experience gap is closed, but for sure he is going to be competitive.”