SMT Honda's Michael Rutter edged out fellow Brit John McGuinness to take pole position for tomorrow's 46th Macau Grand Prix in a session that was cut in half due to it getting dark.
After previous incidents in Formula 3 and World Touring Cars, the bike were late on parade but it didn't faze Rutter who banged in an early 2'27.566 to go top and then bettered it with a 2'27.545 set just before the red flags came out.
McGuinness's 2'27.763 was easily enough for second as third-placed Martin Jessop, on the Riders Ducati, hadn't had time to get into his stride and was nearly two seconds in arrears on a 2'29.287. However, the West Country rider was on a quicker lap when the session was ended prematurely.
Quattro Honda's Gary Johnson stayed ahead of Conor Cummins to plant himself at the top of row two with Horst Saiger in sixth place. Simon Andrews, in his first big event since his massive Isle of Man crash, is seventh on 2'30.256 with Jimmy Storrar, Dan Kneen and James Hiller rounding out the top ten.
Kettering's James McBride took 12th place, two ahead of Steve Mercer with Splitlath Aprilia's David Johnson 17th, Steve Heneghan 18th and Davy Morgan 20th. Jamie Hamilton didn't make the qualifying time but may be allowed to race while Lee Johnston's crash yesterday ruled his bike out of any further participation.
2012 Macau GP qualifying practice two - conditions dry
1 1 Michael RUTTER GBR SMT Racing 2:27.545 8 149.32
2 2 John MCGUINNESS GBR SMT Racing 2:27.763 7 0.218 149.10
3 40 Martin JESSOPP GBR Riders Motorcycles.com 2:29.287 7 1.742 147.58
4 5 Gary JOHNSON GBR Quattro Plant Motorsports 2:29.497 7 1.952 147.37
5 4 Conor CUMMINS IOM Tyco Suzuki 2:30.075 6 2.530 146.80
6 8 Horst SAIGER AUT Saiger-Racing.com 2:30.203 6 2.658 146.68
7 17 Simon ANDREWS GBR Ice Valley by Motorsave Trade 2:30.256 7 2.711 146.63
8 15 James STORRAR GBR DMR 2:30.851 5 3.306 146.05
9 55 Dan KNEEN IOM Marks Bloom Racing 2:31.680 7 4.135 145.25
10 37 James HILLIER GBR Bournemouth Kawasaki Racing 2:31.787 7 4.242 145.15
11 26 Didier GRAMS GER German Team - Heidger - M/Sport 2:31.850 6 4.305 145.09
12 9 James MCBRIDE GBR DMR 2:32.402 6 4.857 144.56
13 13 Riko PENZKOFER GER Penz 13 2:33.550 7 6.005 143.48
14 12 Steve MERCER GBR T + R Motorsport 2:34.204 8 6.659 142.87
15 66 Branko SRDANOV NED Ice Valley by Motorsave Trade 2:34.669 7 7.124 142.44
16 10 Mark MILLER USA Splitlath Redmond 2:35.117 7 7.572 142.03
17 20 David JOHNSON AUS Splitlath Redmond 2:35.269 7 7.724 141.89
18 54 Steve HENEGHAN IRL Quattro Plant Motorsports 2:38.030 8 10.485 139.41
19 113 Rafael PASCHOALIN BRA TT Brazilian Team 2:40.298 6 12.753 137.44
20 71 Davy MORGAN GBR CSC Racing 2:41.138 7 13.593 136.72
QUALIFICATION MAXIMA 2:42.299
74 Yoshinari MATSUSHITA JPN Penz 13 2:42.324 7 14.779 135.72
47 Brandon CRETU USA Hel Performance 2:42.947 8 15.402 135.21
32 Joao FERNANDES MAC Penz 13 2:45.996 6 18.451 132.72
44 Jamie HAMILTON GBR RPM Performance 3:16.325 3 48.780 112.22
2012 Macau GP free practice two - conditions dry
1 1 Michael RUTTER GBR SMT Racing 2:27.337 12 149.53
2 40 Martin JESSOPP GBR Riders Motorcycles.com 2:28.559 11 1.222 148.30
3 2 John MCGUINNESS GBR SMT Racing 2:29.001 13 1.664 147.86
4 17 Simon ANDREWS GBR Ice Valley by Motorsave Trade 2:30.687 12 3.350 146.21
5 4 Conor CUMMINS IOM Tyco Suzuki 2:30.775 9 3.438 146.12
6 5 Gary JOHNSON GBR Quattro Plant Motorsports 2:31.348 12 4.011 145.57
7 8 Horst SAIGER AUT Saiger-Racing.com 2:31.811 14 4.474 145.12
8 15 James STORRAR GBR DMR 2:32.011 13 4.674 144.93
9 37 James HILLIER GBR Bournemouth Kawasaki Racing 2:32.497 13 5.160 144.47
10 26 Didier GRAMS GER German Team - Heidger - M/Sport 2:33.061 12 5.724 143.94
11 55 Dan KNEEN IOM Marks Bloom Racing 2:34.160 14 6.823 142.91
12 9 James MCBRIDE GBR DMR 2:34.226 8 6.889 142.85
13 66 Branko SRDANOV NED Ice Valley by Motorsave Trade 2:34.374 9 7.037 142.71
14 12 Steve MERCER GBR T + R Motorsport 2:34.773 14 7.436 142.35
15 20 David JOHNSON AUS Splitlath Redmond 2:35.000 12 7.663 142.14
16 13 Riko PENZKOFER GER Penz 13 2:35.295 12 7.958 141.87
17 11 Stephen THOMPSON GBR T + R Motorsport 2:36.157 9 8.820 141.08
18 10 Mark MILLER USA Splitlath Redmond 2:37.354 12 10.017 140.01
19 44 Jamie HAMILTON GBR RPM Performance 2:38.127 12 10.790 139.33
20 113 Rafael PASCHOALIN BRA TT Brazilian Team 2:39.312 12 11.975 138.29
21 54 Steve HENEGHAN IRL Quattro Plant Motorsports 2:40.811 13 13.474 137.00
22 32 Joao FERNANDES MAC Penz 13 2:41.741 11 14.404 136.21
23 71 Davy MORGAN GBR CSC Racing 2:41.851 12 14.514 136.12
24 74 Yoshinari MATSUSHITA JPN Penz 13 2:42.324 16 14.987 135.72
25 47 Brandon CRETU USA Hel Performance 2:45.114 13 17.777 133.43
26 18 SOU Sio Hong MAC SOU Sio Hong 2:53.513 5 26.176 126.97
