Photo: Formula Masters China
Formula Masters China championship leader James Munro topped the official free practice session on Friday at the Shanghai International Circuit, leading his teammate Dan Wells in a KCMG 1-2.
The 17-year-old Kiwi set a time of 1:50.012 and pipped Wells by 0.16 seconds?at the end of a dry, sunny session. The Briton?had earlier topped the two unofficial practice sessions on Thursday.
The only other driver to get within a second of Munro’s time?was Zen Motorsport’s Yin Hai Tao, who finished the session in third place, eight tenths behind the KCMG duo.
South African driver Aston Hare was fourth fastest for Meritus GP, ahead of the Eurasia Motorsport quartet?of Yuan Bo, Matthew Solomon, Sean Hudspeth and Pu Jun Jin.
Zen’s Bao Jin Long was ninth quickest, with the third KCMG driver Matthew Swanepoel bringing up the top ten.
Zou Chen Yu replaces Yuya Motojima?who finished on the podium twice at Zhuhai?at the Super License team for this weekend. The Chinese driver, who finished eighth in the Formula BMW AsiaCup Super 6 last season, tested for Meritus in the off-season and was set to join them for 2014, but will instead drive for Japanese squad Super License, co-owned by former F1 driver Ukyo Katayama.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
Gap | Laps |
| 1 | James Munro | KCMG | 1:50.012 | 3 | |
| 2 | Dan Wells | KCMG | 1:50.173 | 0.161 | 7 |
| 3 | Yin Hai Tao | Zen Motorsport | 1:50.929 | 0.917 | 3 |
| 4 | Aston Hare | Meritus GP | 1:51.024 | 1.012 | 8 |
| 5 | Yuan Bo | Eurasia Motorsport | 1:51.142 | 1.130 | 9 |
| 6 | Matthew Solomon | Eurasia Motorsport | 1:51.155 | 1.143 | 4 |
| 7 | Sean Hudspeth | Eurasia Motorsport | 1:51.439 | 1.427 | 8 |
| 8 | Pu Jun Jin | Eurasia Motorsport | 1:51.696 | 1.684 | 2 |
| 9 | Bao Jin Long | Zen Motorsport | 1:51.796 | 1.784 | 3 |
| 10 | Matthew Swanepoel | KCMG | 1:51.830 | 1.818 | 9 |
| 11 | Yasuo Senna Iriawan | Humpuss Junior Racing Team | 1:52.076 | 2.064 | 11 |
| 12 | Andersen Martono | Meritus GP | 1:52.243 | 2.231 | 3 |
| 13 | Ronald Wu | Zen Motorsport | 1:52.502 | 2.490 | 3 |
| 14 | Darma Hutomo | Humpuss Junior Racing Team | 1:52.805 | 2.793 | 5 |
| 15 | Akhil Rabindra | Meco Motorsports | 1:52.975 | 2.963 | 4 |
| 16 | Zou Chen Yu | Super License | 1:53.343 | 3.331 | 7 |
| 17 | Hua Miao | Zen Motorsport | 1:53.976 | 3.966 | 4 |
| 18 | Mandla Mdakane | Meritus GP | 1:54.106 | 4.094 | 2 |