Tiago Monteiro set the pace on his début in the TCR International Series in Macau, posting as time of 2:34.636 to go three tenths faster than title contender Pepe Oriola around the street circuit.
Monteiro is making his début at the top-level of the TCR pyramid this weekend, and he immediately acclimatised to the WestCoast Racing Honda Civic, posting the top times in the closing minutes of the session.
“It’s nice to be in Macau again,” said Monteiro. “As always in this first practice, the track is still very dirty and slow, there is very little grip. The first impression about the car is positive, but it is still too early to say, and we still are three seconds above the expected last times.
“So far, the biggest problem is traffic and the number of cars and drivers on track that are really much slower – this is going to be an issue.”
Behind Oriola, the second WestCoast Honda of Gianni Morbidelli was third, ahead of Leopard Racing duo Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay, who put their Volkswagen Golf TCR cars in fourth and fifth respectively.
TCR Germany champion Josh Files was sixth quickest for Target Competition, with the Brit competing in only his second TCR International event, having appeared at the event last year.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Sergey Afanasyev and James Nash were seventh and eighth respectively, the latter being the only driver in the field to carry success ballast this weekend. Championship leader Nash was just under two seconds off the pace.
Ninth fastest Andy Yan was the leading Asian driver in the field, whilst his Liqui Moly Team Engstler team-mate Davit Kajaia completed the top ten.
Whilst the TCR cars are sharing the track with a number of local Chinese Touring Car entrants, these are effectively being considered as ‘invisible’ for the results. There was a ten-minute red-flag period after the opening lap, when one of those local entrants blocked the circuit at Moorish Hill.
Second practice takes place at 12:30 local time (04:30 GMT, 05:30 CET) on Friday.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 81 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 8 | 2:34.636 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 7 | 2:35.008 | 0.372 |
| 3 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 8 | 2:35.077 | 0.441 |
| 4 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 7 | 2:35.379 | 0.743 |
| 5 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 8 | 2:35.464 | 0.828 |
| 6 | 50 | Josh FILES |  |
Target Competition | Honda Civic TCR | 8 | 2:35.706 | 1.070 |
| 7 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 7 | 2:36.116 | 1.480 |
| 8 | 54 | James NASH | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 2:36.586 | 1.950 |
| 9 | 3 | Andy YAN Cheuk Wai |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 7 | 2:37.941 | 3.305 |
| 10 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 8 | 2:38.913 | 4.277 |
| 11 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 8 | 2:40.393 | 5.757 |
| 12 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 6 | 2:40.549 | 5.913 |
| 13 | 28 | Kevin TSE |  |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 7 | 2:41.108 | 6.472 |
| 14 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 7 | 2:42.771 | 8.135 |
| 15 | 83 | Tin SRITRAI |  |
Team Thailand | Honda Civic TCR | 8 | 2:43.990 | 9.354 |
| 16 | 48 | Antti BURI |  |
LMS Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 8 | 2:44.028 | 9.392 |
| 17 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 7 | 2:44.045 | 9.409 |
| 18 | 23 | Andrea BELICCHI | |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 5 | 2:44.357 | 9.721 |
| 19 | 35 | Rafaël GALIANA | |
Target Competition | SEAT León Cup Racer | 7 | 2:44.957 | 10.321 |
| 20 | 14 | Neric WEI Chao Yin |  |
Son Veng Racing Team | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 7 | 2:45.526 | 10.890 |
| 21 | 22 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 7 | 2:45.863 | 11.227 |
| 22 | 20 | Hon Kei LOU | |
Elegant Racing Team | SEAT León Cup Racer | 7 | 2:48.450 | 13.814 |
| 23 | 33 | Jordi ORIOLA | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 4 | 2:48.956 | 14.320 |
| 24 | 17 | Terence TSE Kin Leung | |
Roadstar Racing Team | SEAT León Cup Racer | 6 | 2:53.656 | 19.020 |
| 25 | 27 | Bill E O’BRIEN | |
Teamwork Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 7 | 3:00.075 | 25.439 |
| 26 | 65 | Douglas KHOO Kok Hui |  |
Viper Niza Racing | SEAT León Cup Racer | 7 | 3:06.448 | 31.812 |