Manxman Conor Cummins  grabbed pole position for the 42nd running of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix with a blistering record qualifying lap in the closing stages of the second and deciding timed session at the Far East Classic this morning.

Cummins, on the Team of Paris AIM Racing Yamaha 1000, at only his second appearance at the event, chopped over four seconds off his best lap time in Thursday’s opening qualifying session to grab pole position for the 15-lap race, slicing just under a tenth of a second off the existing record.

Michael Rutter, the 35-year-old six-time winner of the event, was only second fastest on the Discover Ireland NW200 Ducati 1200, just under half a second slower than his young rival.

“I had some problems with slower riders but that did not delay me too much and I used race tyres instead of qualifying rubber so I am happy enough with my times,” said Rutter, who is aiming to take a record-breaking seventh victory in the event.

Australian Cameron Donald (Relentless Suzuki by TAS) was third fastest, just five hundredths of a second slower than Rutter.

The final few minutes of the session produced some dramatic shuffling of the leaderboard, and John McGuinness (Ventaxia UK Honda 1000) and fifth quickest, Ian Hutchinson (AVIVA Kawasaki 1000) were all vying for a top three spot in the final minutes.

Less than one second covered all five at the end of the session.

Keith Amor (AIM Racing Yamaha) forgot to tell his pit crew he had damaged an engine in Thursday’s qualifying so ran the full timed session on three cylinders, but was still quick enough to set fastest time in the Supersport 600 class.

Rico Penzkofer (IGT-Yamaha Austria Racing), who finished second in the class last year, was second fastest by just eight hundredths of a second.

Dan Linfoot (Rob Mac Racing Yamaha), the 20-year-old Yorkshire newcomer, was third best in the class, almost three seconds slower than the German.
Times
1      4            Conor CUMMINS      IOM      TEAM OF PARIS A.I.M. RACING      2:26.580      13            150.30      
 2      200            Michael RUTTER      GBR      DISCOVER IRELAND NW200 DUCATI      2:27.077      9      0.497      149.79      
 3      6            Cameron DONALD      AUS      RELENTLESS SUZUKI BY TAS      2:27.128      16      0.548      149.74      
 4      2            John MCGUINNESS      GBR      VENTAXIA VK HONDA      2:27.521      15      0.941      149.34      
 5      8            Ian HUTCHINSON      GBR      AVIVA KAWASAKI      2:27.554      20      0.974      149.31      
 6      3            Stuart EASTON      GBR      DOOSAN HONDA      2:27.923      18      1.343      148.94      
 7      57            Jeremy TOYE      USA      CORONA EXTRA HONDA RACING      2:29.223      16      2.643      147.64      
 8      10            Mark MILLER      USA      CORONA EXTRA HONDA RACING      2:29.405      19      2.825      147.46      
 9      14            Luis CARREIRA      POR      BENIMOTO SUZUKI YOSHIMURA      2:29.584      19      3.004      147.28      
 10      11            Stephen THOMPSON      GBR      SLOAN DEVELOPMENTS      2:29.708      13      3.128      147.16      
 11      25            Michael WEYNAND      BEL      IGT-BIKE PROMOTION RACING      2:29.907      12      3.327      146.97      
 12      7            Thomas HINTERREITER      AUT      MACAU.COM YART      2:29.924      9      3.344      146.95      
 13      34            Michael BARNES      USA      VENTAXIA VK HONDA      2:30.024      16      3.444      146.85      
 14      40            Steve ALLAN      GBR      AVIVA KAWASAKI      2:31.236      18      4.656      145.68      
 15      20            Marc FISSETTEE      BEL      IXO-CHURRASCAO RACING      2:31.755      15      5.175      145.18      
 16      16            Rui REIGOTO      POR      VODAFONE KAWASAKI KMS      2:31.893      16      5.313      145.04      
 17      24      FIM      Keith AMOR      GBR      A.I.M. RACING      2:31.969      14      5.389      144.97      
 18      13      FIM      Rico PENZKOFER      GER      IGT-YAMAHA AUSTRIA RACING TEAM      2:32.050      8      5.470      144.90      
 19      69            Gary JOHNSON      GBR      BTS RACING      2:33.608      10      7.028      143.43      
 20      45      FIM      Dan LINFOOT      GBR      ROB MAC RACING      2:34.891      17      8.311      142.24      
 21      66      FIM      Gerald MUTEAU      FRA      HALFEN - TEAM OF PARIS      2:35.050      10      8.470      142.09      
 22      51            Jose LEITE      POR      SUZUKI CAEPSA BPN      2:35.145      12      8.565      142.00      
 23      99            Pierre CHAPUIS      FRA      HALFEN - TEAM OF PARIS      2:35.530      8      8.950      141.65      
 24      61            Scott JENSEN      USA      MOTO GARAGE RACING      2:36.557      13      9.977      140.72      
 25      17            Steve MERCER      GBR      DMR RACING      2:36.946      14      10.366      140.37      
 26      32      FIM      Joao FERNANDES      MAC      MACAU RACING TEAM      2:38.089      10      11.509      139.36      
 27      77            Fabrice MIGUET      FRA      HALFEN - TEAM OF PARIS      2:38.609      17      12.029      138.90      
 28      88            Amaury BARATIN      FRA      HALFEN - TEAM OF PARIS      2:38.609      20      12.029      138.90      
 29      33      FIM      CHEUNG WAI ON      HKG      CHEUNG WAI ON      2:40.710      16      14.130      137.09      
 30      18      FIM      SOU SIO HONG      MAC      SOU SIO HONG      2:41.429      18      14.849      136.48      
 Qualification Maxima                                                           
       19      FIM      LEONG IOK CHOI      MAC      LEONG IOK CHOI      2:50.693      7      24.113      129.07      
       5            Bruce ANSTEY      NZL      RELENTLESS SUZUKI BY TAS      14:32.229      6      12:05.649      25.25      
       15            James STORRAR      GBR      DMR RACING                        N/A