Bright sunshine replaced the hazy conditions of the weekend so far at Macau for Saturday but a stiff cooling breeze took the edge off the rising temperatures.
Commentator David Addison is sporting a protective surgical boot after a slip and fall recently saw him fracture his ankle.
Questioned by the DSC Editor, Addison claimed that the injury was suffered whilst competing in a cross country run in Delamere Forest in Cheshire, thus debunking the prevailing theory that he had tripped on the way out of a local pub.
Despite the injury, David still undertook the pre-race pit walk (hop) for the host broadcaster.
Uno Racing Team’s stricken #50 Audi is under covers in the team garage with screens pulled in front of the garage door. A polite enquiry from DSC to a senior team source confirmed that driver Adderly Fong is OK after the huge hit on the exit of Mandarin but that the team were in the process of assessing the damage to the Audi.
Adderly Fong told our Chinese friends at BEC Motorsports that after the initial brush with the wall the car briefly felt OK before snapping hard to the right into the scene of the ultimate accident, suggesting that he believed a left rear failure had occurred.
Indeed in the picture below the left rear can be seen askew.
Absolute Racing co-owner Ingo Matter made his way to the Uno garage post session to offer any assistance that they could to see if the effort can be got back on track.
(Update – DSC understands that the #50 Audi will be withdrawn with chassis damage)
The #120 Absolute Racing Porsche by contrast has seen its damage from the Qualifying race fixed very quickly.
The #28 Porsche of Thomas Preining meanwhile is undergoing repairs to the rear end of the car and is currently expected to race tomorrow.
DSC understands that Hongli Ye has been handed a 10 second time penalty for his contact with Cairoli. If confirmed that would see the #33 R&B Racing Porsche driver drop from 13th to 16th on tomorrow’s grid.
The #52 Harmony Ferrari 488 GT3 of Weian Chan was also sporting damage post race after contact though the efforts of the team’s race tape engineer left the damage almost imperceptible to the human eye.
