Chang leads pack on day one

Andy Chang

As expected, the first day of free practice sessions for the Formula 4 (F4) race of the Macau Grand Prix (GP) resulted in the four favorites being ranked in the first four timesheet positions.

After an almost nonexistent first session yesterday morning in which a major incident at the Mandarin Bend caused a red flag, in the second free practice session Macau’s Andy Chang took the lead by clocking a lap at 2:30.138.

Chang was only 0.088 of a second faster than another of the contenders for the ultimate win, Hong Kong’s Gerrard Xie.

Placing in third was the two-time winner of the F4 race, Macau’s Charles Leong just 0.150 of a second away from Chang.

After the second session, which was also interrupted midway by another crash, the front runners expressed some disappointment for the very little track time, noting that no one had yet been able to perform their best.

The morning’s FP1 session was impossible to resume in time and therefore completely ruined, as GP marshals and other marshal posts staff had to remove the crashed car and debris from the track. They also cleaned and dried the asphalt from all the spilt fluids in this major collision with the barriers. Additionally, the barrier had to be fixed so the session ended without a single lap being completed.

Today the F4 cars will go on track at 9:50 a.m. for the first qualifying session and again at 2:15 p.m. for the second qualifying sesson that will establish the starting grid for tomorrow’s Race 1.