Huff takes pole for Race 1, Muller third

Just when we no longer expected it, Rob huff (Volkswagen) reminded the paddock why he was a Macau specialist. The Englishman, second before his last flying lap of qualifying on Friday, set an exceptional lap in 2'29''040, a new lap record (6,2 km long) in TCR, 2''5 faster than his previous record!

The king of Macau did it again, well done @Huffsport! Qualified P1 #WTCR pic.twitter.com/qHcv0m6EVS

— FIA WTCR / Oscaro (@FIA_WTCR) November 16, 2018

However, after the first three sectors, the pilot of the Sébastien Loeb Racing was almost seven tenths behind the provisional best time of Esteban Guerrieri (Honda). In the final curves and straights, the 2012 WTCC champion pulled out all the stops to cross the line with a lead of 479 thousandths over the Argentinian!

Esteban Guerrieri was also caught in a clash with Yvan Muller (Hyundai). The two men got in each other's way on the straight at the start of the circuit; the Alsatian even stamped the rear of his rival's Civic Type-R. The two men explained themselves on the pit wall, but we felt that the opinions between the two men differed.

Yvan Muller will start third, the best position among the favorites for the title. Gabriele Tarquini (Hyundai, leader) will start seventh thanks to a penalty from Yann Ehrlacher (Honda) due to a non-regulatory engine change.

Good performance from Jean-Karl Vernay (Audi, 6th); John Filippi (Cupra) set the 12th time, just ahead of Nathanaël Berthon (Audi). More complications, however, for Aurélien Comte (Peugeot , 20th) and Aurélien Panis (Audi, 21st), the latter having hit the tires at the end of the session.

The only driver to actually suffer a big crash is Thed Björk (Hyundai, 15th). The 2017 WTCC champion hit the wall at the exit of Fishermen's Bend, the penultimate corner of the track. The third in the general classification came out unscathed but caused a red flag.

Race 1 is scheduled for Saturday at 6:25 a.m. French time, and will be followed live video on wtcr.oscaro.com.

WTCR Qualif 1 Macau 2018 standings: