Macau master Rob Huff was comfortably the fastest driver in practice for the FIA World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) in Macau, the Volkswagen driver setting a time in second practice that was half a second faster than Münnich Motorsport’s Yann Ehrlacher.

Vernay had earlier topped first practice but Huff went over a second and a half quicker in FP2, which saw most drivers improve on their times from earlier in the day.

In the end Huff’s best, posted in the final ten minutes of the session, was over 1.5 seconds quicker than Vernay’s lap record-smashing time from first practice and enough to see the Sébastien Loeb Racing driver comfortably clear at the top of the times.

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Ehrlacher was the best of the Honda drivers, whilst title contender Yvan Muller as the quickest of the Hyundais in third, 0.682 seconds shy of Huff’s time.

Vernay kept himself in contention by going fourth, ahead of the second SLR Volkswagen of Mehdi Bennani in fifth and Münnich Motorsport’s Esteban Guerrieri in sixth.

Thed Björk – who still has chance at taking the title – put his YMR Hyundai in seventh, ahead of the BRC Racing duo of Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini in eighth and ninth respectively.

Boutsen Ginion Racing’s Ma Qing Hua completed the top ten in his Honda, just under two seconds off the pace.

Both Team Mulsanne Alfa Romeo drivers improved from their first practice efforts, with Kevin Ceccon up to 12th, 2.2 seconds off the pace, and Luigi Ferrara 17th, just over three seconds away from the top time.

Following gearbox dramas in first practice, Zengő Motorsport’s Norbert Nagy managed to post a time in second practice together with team-mate Zsolt Szabó, and they ended up in 28th and 30th respectively.

There is no further track action on Thursday; both qualifying sessions take place on Friday at 08:50 and 13:35 local time respectively (00:50 and 05:35 GMT).

Session results