Seven-time Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix winner Michael Rutter topped the time sheets in the first of two qualifying sessions for this weekend’s 46th running of the event. The SMT Racing rider set the quickest lap with a time of 2:28.326 on his Honda 1000 machine in the shortened session, more than 1.5 seconds faster than closest challenger, Martin Jessopp on the Riders Motocycles.com Ducati.

Rutter’s team mate John McGuinness was third fastest in the session, followed by Gary Johnson on the Quattro Plant Motorsports Honda.

The session was halted after an incident involving Portuguese rider Luis Carreira and was not restarted.

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