Macau WTCR: Rob Huff leads Andy Priaulx in Thursday practice

Sebastien Loeb Racing driver Huff is chasing a record 10th win at the Guia circuit this weekend, and stormed to top spot in the second practice session with a 2m29.422s lap in his Volkswagen Golf GTI.

That effort briefly put him eight tenths clear of the opposition, and even at the end of those runs he was six tenths clear of the WRT Audi RS3 LMS of Jean-Karl Vernay.

Priaulx, a two-time winner of the Guia Race, was one of a handful of drivers to improve in the final minutes before the end of the session, ending up 0.253 seconds down in his Cyan Lynk & Co 03.

Vernay's time remained good enough for third, ahead of Yann Ehrlacher's Lynk & Co - which had briefly topped the times - and another Audi, that of Comtoyou driver Frederic Vervisch.

Thed Bjork made it three Lynk & Cos in the top 10 with the sixth-fastest time, while behind him BRC Racing Hyundai pair Nicky Catsburg and Norbert Michelisz were split by the lead Honda Civic Type R of Tiago Monteiro.

Title hopeful Michelisz topped the morning's opening 45-minute practice session with a 2m30.460s, besting four-time world champion Yvan Muller's effort by 0.133s.

The driver Michelisz is chasing in the points, Munnich Motorsport Honda's Esteban Guerrieri, had two difficult sessions.

His running in practice one - in which he placed 23rd - was affected by a loose engine mounting, while he improved a single position in second practice, lapping 2.6s off the pace.

Three red flags were shown across the two practice sessions - one in first practice when Gabriele Tarquini crashed at Police, and two in second practice when wildcard drivers had dramas.

KCMG Honda driver Jim Ka To crashed at Paiol, causing significant damage to the front-right corner of his car, while a session-ending red flag was shown with less than two minutes on the clock when Billy Lo spun his Audi at Fisherman's Bend, damaging the car's rear wing, moments after Kwai Wah Wong stopped in the runoff area at Maternity.

Watch every WTCR qualifying session and race from Macau live on Autosport this weekend

Practice one times

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Squadra Corse	Hyundai	2m30.460s	-	17
2	Yvan Muller	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co	2m30.599s	0.139s	15
3	Jean-Karl Vernay	WRT	Audi	2m30.751s	0.291s	16
4	Rob Huff	SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen	2m30.894s	0.434s	14
5	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Performance	Lynk & Co	2m31.060s	0.600s	15
6	Tom Coronel	Comtoyou Cupra	Cupra	2m31.128s	0.668s	14
7	Andy Priaulx	Cyan Performance	Lynk & Co	2m31.365s	0.905s	15
8	Nicky Catsburg	BRC Racing Team	Hyundai	2m31.428s	0.968s	15
9	Mikel Azcona	PWR Racing	Cupra	2m31.435s	0.975s	16
10	Mehdi Bennani	SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen	2m31.494s	1.034s	13
11	Frederic Vervisch	Comtoyou Audi	Audi	2m31.526s	1.066s	15
12	Thed Bjork	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co	2m31.649s	1.189s	13
13	Robert Dahlgren	PWR Racing	Cupra	2m31.673s	1.213s	15
14	Tiago Monteiro	KCMG	Honda	2m32.108s	1.648s	14
15	Kevin Ceccon	Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo	2m32.192s	1.732s	16
16	Ma Qinghua	Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo	2m32.224s	1.764s	14
17	Gordon Shedden	WRT	Audi	2m32.426s	1.966s	16
18	Aurelien Panis	Comtoyou Cupra	Cupra	2m32.488s	2.028s	13
19	Nestor Girolami	Munnich Motorsport	Honda	2m32.617s	2.157s	14
20	Niels Langeveld	Comtoyou Audi	Audi	2m32.985s	2.525s	15
21	Luca Engstler	BRC Racing Team	Hyundai	2m33.166s	2.706s	15
22	Benjamin Leuchter	SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen	2m33.169s	2.709s	16
23	Esteban Guerrieri	Munnich Motorsport	Honda	2m33.311s	2.851s	12
24	Attila Tassi	KCMG	Honda	2m33.530s	3.070s	13
25	Johan Kristoffersson	SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen	2m33.934s	3.474s	9
26	Gabriele Tarquini	BRC Squadra Corse	Hyundai	2m34.938s	4.478s	3
27	Billy Lo	Tian Shi Zuver Team	Audi	2m35.669s	5.209s	12
28	Jim Ka To	KC Motorgroup	Honda	2m36.046s	5.586s	12
29	James Tang	Team TRC	Honda	2m40.514s	10.054s	15
30	Arthur Law	Team TRC	Honda	2m41.540s	11.080s	8
31	Kwai Wah Wong	Son Veng Racing Team	Volkswagen	2m42.835s	12.375s	15
32	Terence Tse	Team TRC	Honda	2m53.177s	22.717s	14

Practice two times

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Rob Huff	SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen	2m29.422s	-	9
2	Andy Priaulx	Cyan Performance	Lynk & Co	2m29.675s	0.253s	9
3	Jean-Karl Vernay	WRT	Audi	2m30.081s	0.659s	10
4	Yann Ehrlacher	Cyan Performance	Lynk & Co	2m30.234s	0.812s	10
5	Frederic Vervisch	Comtoyou Audi	Audi	2m30.237s	0.815s	10
6	Thed Bjork	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co	2m30.352s	0.930s	10
7	Nicky Catsburg	BRC Racing Team	Hyundai	2m30.440s	1.018s	10
8	Tiago Monteiro	KCMG	Honda	2m30.444s	1.022s	10
9	Norbert Michelisz	BRC Squadra Corse	Hyundai	2m30.856s	1.434s	8
10	Mikel Azcona	PWR Racing	Cupra	2m30.930s	1.508s	11
11	Yvan Muller	Cyan Racing	Lynk & Co	2m30.979s	1.557s	9
12	Aurelien Panis	Comtoyou Cupra	Cupra	2m31.082s	1.660s	9
13	Johan Kristoffersson	SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen	2m31.093s	1.671s	10
14	Gordon Shedden	WRT	Audi	2m31.137s	1.715s	8
15	Tom Coronel	Comtoyou Cupra	Cupra	2m31.281s	1.859s	10
16	Luca Engstler	BRC Racing Team	Hyundai	2m31.286s	1.864s	9
17	Mehdi Bennani	SLR VW Motorsport	Volkswagen	2m31.466s	2.044s	9
18	Ma Qinghua	Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo	2m31.511s	2.089s	10
19	Kevin Ceccon	Team Mulsanne	Alfa Romeo	2m31.551s	2.129s	9
20	Attila Tassi	KCMG	Honda	2m31.682s	2.260s	9
21	Robert Dahlgren	PWR Racing	Cupra	2m31.730s	2.308s	10
22	Esteban Guerrieri	Munnich Motorsport	Honda	2m32.045s	2.623s	10
23	Gabriele Tarquini	BRC Squadra Corse	Hyundai	2m32.145s	2.723s	10
24	Niels Langeveld	Comtoyou Audi	Audi	2m32.155s	2.733s	9
25	Benjamin Leuchter	SLR Volkswagen	Volkswagen	2m32.270s	2.848s	10
26	Nestor Girolami	Munnich Motorsport	Honda	2m32.857s	3.435s	10
27	Billy Lo	Tian Shi Zuver Team	Audi	2m35.374s	5.952s	10
28	James Tang	Team TRC	Honda	2m41.209s	11.787s	9
29	Kwai Wah Wong	Son Veng Racing Team	Volkswagen	2m41.976s	12.554s	7
30	Arthur Law	Team TRC	Honda	2m44.204s	14.782s	7
31	Terence Tse	Team TRC	Honda	2m48.248s	18.826s	9
32	Jim Ka To	KC Motorgroup	Honda	-	-	1