The Italian has been the penultimate driver to run on track for the final shoot-out segment, with the previous benchmark having been set by fellow Ferrari driver Ye Yifei. 

Executing a well-judged lap in the fading light, Fuoco was able to deliver a time that put him 0.274 seconds in front of Ye, and lock out the front row for his Prancing Horse manufacturer.

Third place on the track had originally gone to Lamborghini driver Edoardo Mortara. The multiple Macao winner had talked of producing the best lap he had ever done around the Guia Circuit to get close to the Ferraris ahead, but his efforts went unrewarded after his best time was disallowed for a technical infringement related to excessive powertrain power.

Mortara dropping to 10th overall left the way open for Porsche’s Alessio Picariello to secure third place on the grid, ahead of Audi’s Joel Eriksson and BMW driver Raffaele Marciello.

Only the fastest 10 drivers from the opening 30-minute qualifying segment had made it through to the Superpole element, with several pre-event favourites getting eliminated.

BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde had been one of the first big names to fall when he crashed out at Moorish Hill in the opening minutes of Q1 – even before putting a lap in. Another surprise in not making it through was Laurens Vanthoor, who was back in action today after his opening practice had ended in a big crash that severely damaged his Porsche and needed overnight repairs. He finished Q1 in 11th spot, so will start from there for Saturday’s qualification race.