Former F1 driver Lucas di Grassi stole provisional pole position from Edoardo Mortara late in the first of two 30 minute sessions setting the grid for the City of Dreams Macau GT Cup race on the Guia Circuit.
Mortara followed up his topping of the lone free practice session by setting the pace for much of the session in his Audi R8 LMS ultra. However, just six minutes from the end di Grassi, in a Ferrari 458 GT3 found the pace a lap of 2:22.305,a time more than a second faster than Mortara (2.23.527), the defending of the winner of the race.
The gap back to third fastest man, Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion Alexandre Imperatori, was larger still than the gap between the top two, the Hong Kong driver 2.8 seconds off di Grassi’s time to beat. Keita Sawa was fourth fastest, Briton Danny Watts fifth fastest for Anglo-American team United Autosports (2:25.940).
Richard Meins – in the second UA McLaren MP4-12C was one of the higher profile names to stuggle during the session, completing just two laps to end the session 13th fastest. Also with work to do to save his weekend is Romain Dumas who failed to complete a competitive lap time, his Porsche instead ending the session in the barriers.
