Edoardo Mortara (Audi R8 LMS Ultra) took provisional pole position in the first of two Qualifying sessions for Sunday’s Macau GT Cup with a lap of 2:18.230.

Mortara: “I was very, very lucky with traffic in my two attempts in the session. In the first one, I had no traffic but I managed to put it in the wall which was my mistake and not optimal. We could have already set the benchmark. I had to come in put on another set of tyres, which was not planned. Then I went out again and obviously when had I crashed the car it was quite hard so it was quite bent. This is where you see the Audi quality. I crashed very, very hard into the wall but still the car was able to behave pretty normally. That allowed us to have another attempt. We had no traffic and we did the lap. I’m pretty sure we can go much quicker [in final qualifying] as I crashed very hard. But tomorrow is another day and different conditions, so you start a little bit from zero.”

Earl Bamber was second quickestat the end of the session with a Porsche GT3 R“It was a fantastic qualifying for us. It was a bit difficult as we had some traffic in the last sector which cost us, but that’s the game in Macau. I think it’s really great to be P2, especially for LKM as it’s their home race. It’s good to be quick but there’s still another qualifying tomorrow so we have to shoot up the car a bit more and work on it. Roll on tomorrow, and we’ll be charging. Or maybe just follow the master!”

Engel (Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3) was third quickest, a second and a half off provisional pole having topped Thursday’s free practice.

The second Qualifying session for the Macau GT Cup will be held Saturday at 12:50 local time.