Darryl O’Young tops both practice sessions in the #95 Challenger Mercedes-AMG GT3
Both Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the top 10
Darryl O’Young set the fastest times in both practice sessions at the 2020 Macau Grand Prix as the weekend’s action got underway on Friday. Alex Liu’s first outing at the Macau circuit in GT3 machinery saw the Macanese driver finish 8th in both sessions, putting Craft-Bamboo Racing in the top-10 at the end of Friday Practice.
Free Practice 1
Darryl O’Young | #95 Challenger Mercedes-AMG GT3
P1 – 2:21.755
Alex Liu Lic Ka | #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3
P8 – 2:32.672
O’Young initially took a cautious approach, getting up to speed at the daunting Macau circuit. But the winner of the inaugural event quickly found his rhythm and set a time of 2:21.755, almost 4 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed car. Alex Liu, on his 21st appearance at the Macau Grand Prix, set a time of 2:32.672, the fastest of the Macanese drivers.
Free Practice 2
Darryl O’Young | #95 Challenger Mercedes-AMG GT3
P1 – 2:20.919
Alex Liu Lic Ka | #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3
P8 – 2:27.611
After several tweaks were made to the setup of O’Young and Liu’s Mercedes-AMG GT3s, Free Practice 2 commenced as the sun began to set. O’Young was immediately on the pace, and improved to a 2:20.919, almost a second quicker than his benchmark in the first practice session. Liu made great progress between the sessions and set a time of 2:27.611, almost 5 seconds faster than his previous best.
The team will be working hard this evening to extract the maximum from the cars for the all-important Qualifying session tomorrow morning, but no doubt have started the weekend on the right foot. Qualifying starts at 1030hrs (HKT/ GMT +8), and the 8-lap Qualification Race later in the afternoon at 1610hrs (HKT/ GMT +8).
QUOTES
Darryl O’Young | Driver #95 Challenger Mercedes-AMG GT3
“Today went pretty smoothly. Main point was to build up my speed and get comfortable again. First free practice session was quite unusual for me as I had to really get warmed up and used to driving again. That was quite challenging and I even touched the wall in some places due to misjudgment on turn-in. It was not easy but the pace of the car was really good due to all our preparation before the event, and my experience at this track really helped. I expected the gap to come down by Free Practice 2, and it certainly did as the other drivers quickly got up to speed. It’s getting some good runs in with the car and going through the data and understand factor. I’ll be taking this session by session and work through our plan, and so far everything is to schedule.”
