Photo: TCR Media

Rob Huff quickest again in final Macau practice session

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WestCoast Racing driver Rob Huff again led the way in practice at the Circuito Da Guia in his Honda Civic TCR, finishing 1.1 seconds ahead of Craft-Bamboo Lukoil driver Pepe Oriola in the SEAT León, with Target Competition’s Stefano Comini completing the top three.

The seven-time Macau winner produced the best time of the weekend so far of 2:33.702 half-way through the session, with Oriola able to improve to close the gap to just 1.1 seconds, after the Briton had enjoyed a 1.8 second lead in Thursday’s session.

Top Run Motorsport has withdrawn Alain Menu’s Subaru WRX STi following on from the technical issues the Swiss driver experienced yesterday, while Rafaele Galiana’s Target SEAT was damaged beyond repair in a crash in FP1.

Campos Racing’s Josh Files also missed the session, it’s not yet known if the team will repair the car before qualifying, but the 24-year-old now would have no track time at all before qualifying if that was the case.

Files’ team-mate Dan Wells practice session ended early with his Campos Opel Astra grinding to a half up the hill.

There was drama as the Engstler SEAT of Guillaume Cunnington first held up the Craft-Bamboo SEATs of Pepe Oriola and Jordi Gené on a quick run, before spinning out at the exit of Lisboa.

Portuguese driver Francisco Mora stopped his Target SEAT at the Melco hairpin with smoke emanating from the car, which caused some trouble at the famous corner, with Frank Yu in the Craft-Bamboo SEAT becoming unstuck and unable to navigate the turn.

Soon after, Keith Chan crashed out his Target SEAT at Mandarin, before Douglas Khoo smashed his Niza Racing SEAT León into the barriers at the R bend, causing terminal damage to his SEAT and disrupting any final runs.

Huff therefore ended up fastest ahead of championship protagonists Pepe Oriola and Stefano Comini, with Jordi Gené fourth fastest for Craft-Bamboo Lukoil and Kevin Gleason fifth in the WestCoast Racing Honda.

Next up for the TCR International Series is qualifying, which is scheduled for 7:30am CST on Saturday.