- Estonian Red Bull junior driver gets round in 2:04.997 in F3 car before red flag interrupts
- ‘The King of Macau’ drives two of his best ever laps on the street circuit to take pole in WTCR race
It was a day typical of Macau motor racing at the Guia track on Friday, where the tight corners of the street circuit made sure for a day packed with action.
Sessions ran late after a number of crashes ensured it was a stop-start day of racing for frustrated drivers but the fans packing the grandstand got what they wanted.
Estonia's Juri Vips played a large part of that with a record 2:04.997 lap in the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix qualifying session, the fastest ever recorded on the course. It was a time he expected.
"Nowadays the simulators are very accurate," the Red Bull junior driver said, "though in a simulator the walls aren't real so you can push a bit more."
Vips and F3 champion Robert Shwartzman pushed plenty with the Russian ruing the red flag. Shwartzman felt that he could have caught Vips without the flag while looking forward to Saturday's qualifying race. "I think tomorrow is going to be a really interesting one."
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Calum Ilott, who finished in third, had no time with a simulator because of missed flights and had never driven the car before this weekend. He was happy with his third place, although Vips played down the importance of finishing first but said he aims to be in the top three after the qualification race on Saturday afternoon.
Vips had also gone fastest in the earlier crash-shortened session, which ended after a collision between David Beckmann and reigning champion Daniel Ticktum. The Briton was later cleared after an investigation.
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It was a similar story in the other sessions of the day: fast lap times pockmarked by crash interruptions, that ended several sessions early.
Britain's Rob Huff played his part with the fastest lap in the FIA WTCR Macau Guia Race in the afternoon's second qualifying session.
Huff, who is known as "The King of Macau" for his exploits here, came back spectacularly from a disappointing morning practice.
"We had a few problems this morning", he said. "The confidence was quite down."
Huff put that behind him with a record 2:27.963 time, the fastest seen on the course. That took him top of the leaderboard ahead of the DHL Race for Pole between the five fastest racers. "I almost crashed four five times," Huff said of his dramatic Q2 lap. "It's just dangerous." He was delighted despite the danger.
"Chuffed to bits with that. It's amazing. I don't want to say perfect but it was almost perfect everywhere."
"We had high hopes after yesterday and I think I've just done two of the best laps I've ever done in Macau."
The second of those was in the DHL pole position shoot-out to win his first pole of the year and his ninth in Macau, where he is chasing a 10th victory. "It's about time," he said. "If it was going to happen, it was hopefully going to happen here.
Fellow Briton Andy Priaulx pushed him all the way but had to make do with second on the grid. "It was a really good lap. 99 per cent was where I needed it," Priaulx said. "Pleased to be on the front row."
Not everyone was pleased with the day's racing. WTCR driver Tiago Monteiro was one competitor who cut a frustrated figure.
"We've been talking about this all weekend. Macau is a lottery and you have to take advantage of it. Well, this time it really beat us. Half an hour and not one single performance lap. Yellow flags, cars crashing in front of me. We had exactly what Macau is all about: a lot of action."
The action continues on Saturday with the Formula Three 10-lap qualification race the first to run at 9am. The day finishes with the Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, which begins at 3.55pm.
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