Cochet went third-quickest. Monteiro had the pole position early on but he could not improve his time and took fourth. Anthony Davidson sought to find a rhythm he liked and was fifth. Sixth-placed Kaneshi took first from Monteiro until he fell back. Fukuka did not push too hard and he was provisionally seventh. Andy Priaulx was an early pace setter but he ended eighth. Tréluyer and Matsurra rounded out the top ten. De Oliviera was the fastest driver not to reach the top ten despite a strong pace early on. Kaffer was next ahead of Björn Wirdheim, Enrico Toccacelo and Derek Hayes. The rest of the order was completed by Marchy Lee, Kovalainen, Bruce Jouanny, Tristan Gommendy, Sakon Yamamoto, Peter Sundberg, Hackett, Ho, Haruki Kurosawa, Lei, Merszei, Matteo Bobbi and Taylor. Ide and Raffaele Giammaria did not set a lap time. Ide slid on his out-lap and hit the Mandarin Oriental Bend wall. He recovered but stopped in the Melco hairpin tyre barrier, creating a traffic jam that caught out Giammaria. This stopped qualifying to allow marshals to clear the wreckage. Davidson could not avoid striking Lei's stricken car and went airborne. His suspension wishbones were broken and his nose cone removed. Davidson drove slowly to the pit lane for car repairs. Later, Kurosawa removed one of his car's wheels in an impact with a wall. Taylor and Bobbi made contact and ended their session early as Yamamoto heavily hit the wall alongside the track. With less than a minute left, Davidson lost rear vehicle traction at Matsuya bend and hit the barrier heavily. He ricocheted sideways across the track and stopped broadside. An unsighted Montiero then rammed Davidson's car at low speed. Davidson prepared by moving his head forwards and exited his car without external assistance. He complained of a sore neck and was taken by ambulance to the local hospital for a precautionary x-ray. He was kept in hospital overnight and ruled unfit to drive the rest of the meeting because of a concussion, torn neck ligaments and a fractured C5 vertebrae. In the second half an hour practice session, which took place in hot and clear weather on Friday morning, Priaulx was the early pace setter and he held the top spot until Wirdheim set the first lap under 2-minute, 15 seconds. The order in the time sheets continuously changed but practice's opening minutes did not have