Rutter is already on the pace at Macau

British Superbike veteran Michael Rutter has set the pace in the opening Macau Grand Prix practice session, going more than two seconds faster than American Jeremy Toye with the amazing Ian Hutchinson, who hasn't raced in over a year, in third place.

Rutter lapped in 2'27.618, which is still some four seconds off Stuart Easton's lap record from last year, with Toye stealing second place on the Paul Bird Kawasaki right at the end of the hour-long session. Hutchinson went round in 2'29.658 in the Swan Yamaha on which he is using a right-foot gear-change system and a thumb brake.

American Mike Barnes put his Attack Kawasaki in fourth, just ahead of the IGT TAS Suzuki of Gary Johnson and the Roadhouse SMT Fireblade of John McGuinness. Martin Jessopp, on the second Riders Ducati, is in seventh with James Hillier's Bournemouth Kawasaki in eighth and four seconds off the pace. Jimmy Storrar and Horst Saiger round out the top ten.

Conor Cummins and Steve Mercer are locked together in 11th and 12th, Bruce Anstey is 14th, Michael Dunlop 15th, Stephen Thompson 17th, William Dunlop 18th, who had a minor tumble in the session, and James McBride 19th.

Unseasonable rain at the Macau Grand Prix has meant that the first qualifying session due to be held a little while ago has been cancelled and the grid will now be formed from tomorrow's single timed session, scheduled to start at 7.30am local.

2011 Macau Grand Prix free practice - conditions dry

1 2 Michael RUTTER GBR RidersMotorcycles.com 2:27.618 16 149.25
2 57 Jeremy TOYE USA IGT Kawasaki Racing Team 2:28.887 15 1.269 147.97
3 7 Ian HUTCHINSON GBR Swan Yamaha 2:29.658 17 2.040 147.21
4 34 Michael BARNES USA Attack Performance Kawasaki 2:30.491 15 2.873 146.40
5 69 Gary JOHNSON GBR IGT Suzuki by TAS 2:30.671 14 3.053 146.22
6 4 John MCGUINNESS GBR Roadhouse SMT Honda 2:31.296 13 3.678 145.62
7 40 Martin JESSOPP GBR RidersMotorcycles.com 2:31.787 17 4.169 145.15
8 37 James HILLIER GBR Mocha Club Bournemouth Kawasaki 2:32.139 17 4.521 144.81
9 15 James STORRAR GBR IseeMacau.com BMW by DMR 2:33.309 20 5.691 143.71
10 12 Horst SAIGER AUT Penz13.com 2:33.518 19 5.900 143.51
11 8 Conor CUMMINS GBR IGT Kawasaki Racing Team 2:33.724 14 6.106 143.32
12 17 Steve MERCER GBR Jentin Racing 2:33.745 20 6.127 143.30
13 13 Rico PENZKOFER GER Penz13.com 2:34.268 12 6.650 142.81
14 5 Bruce ANSTEY NZL Padgettsmotorcycles.com 2:34.581 17 6.963 142.52
15 3 Michael DUNLOP GBR IGT Kawasaki Racing Team 2:35.171 16 7.553 141.98
16 26 Didier GRAMS GER Heidger-RTG-Suzuki Muller 2:35.179 15 7.561 141.97
17 11 Stephen THOMPSON GBR Roadhouse T & R Motorsport 2:36.443 14 8.825 140.83
18 6 William DUNLOP GBR Wilson Craig Racing 2:37.276 13 9.658 140.08
19 9 James MCBRIDE GBR PB Motorsport 2:37.878 15 10.260 139.55
20 10 Mark MILLER USA Splitlath Motorsport 2:39.672 13 12.054 137.98
21 32 Joao FERNANDES MAC Team of Paris 2:40.740 15 13.122 137.06
22 23 Michal DOKOUPIL CZE IseeMacau.com BMW by DMR 2:41.385 20 13.767 136.51
23 20 Sean DWYER USA Locust-Lee�s Cycle 2:41.726 16 14.108 136.23
24 18 SOU Sio Hong MAC SOU Sio Hong 2:44.581 17 16.963 133.86
25 22 Chris CLARK USA Yes-Pcs-Graves Yamaha 2:46.147 17 18.529 132.60
26 99 Paul SHOESMITH GBR PB Motorsport 2:48.001 13 20.383 131.14
27 77 Nuno CAETANO POR HM Racing Team 2:50.102 14 22.484 129.52