Manxmen Conor Cummins and Dan Kneen qualified fourth and 11th respectively for the 51st edition of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix on Friday morning.

Cummins, who was fourth quickest in both sessions, had a best lap of 2min 25.555sec having made a late bid for the top three on the Padgett’s Motorcycles Honda Fireblade.

Kneen, riding the Penz13.com BMW, was initially fifth best in the opening practice on Thursday morning, but 16th in the first official qualifying session later the same day.

In Friday morning’s session he upped his pace by more than four seconds for a single lap of the 3.8-mile Armco lined street course to qualify just outside of the top-10 with a time of 2:27.181.

Ulster ace Glenn Irwin once again tore up the record books on the Paul Bird Motorsport/Penz13 Ducati, charging into pole position ahead of 2015 and 2016 winner Peter Hickman (SMT/Bathams BMW) by a margin of 1.8 seconds.

Irwin’s lap time of 2m 23.081 shattered the previous qualifying best of 2m 23.714 set by Michael Rutter in 2010, and was also below the official race best lap record of 2m 23.616 set by Stuart Easton the same year.

Irwin is the first rider from Northern Ireland to start the race from pole position since Phillip McCallen in 1996.

Rutter ended up third quickest overall, a tenth of a second down on Hickman.

Martin Jessopp was fifth best, followed by Australian David Johnson, Lee Johnston, Austria’s Horst Saiger, Irishman Derek Sheils and Lincolnshire’s Gary Johnson.

Irwin looks the clear favourite for Saturday morning’s 12-lap race, but the forecast hints at rain in Macau which might favour eight time winner Rutter.

The race begins at 7.40am GMT.