Davey Todd aiming to take fight to FHO Racing BMW team-mate Peter Hickman at weather-hit Macau Grand Prix

A revised schedule is being considered, although the possibility of further rain showers on Friday could pose a fresh headache for the event organisers.

The 12-lap race is scheduled to take place on Saturday around the 3.8-mile Guia street course at 9:30am local time (01:30 GMT).

Thursday’s 45-minute free practice session has been switched to Friday morning, effectively replacing the first qualifying session that was due to have taken place from 7:45am local time. A 45-minute qualifying session is currently scheduled for later in the afternoon at 4:15pm.

New FHO Racing BMW rider Davey Todd and team-mate Peter Hickman, who is bidding for a fifth victory at the famous race in southern China, go into the race as the favourites.

Hickman dominated 12 months ago after breaking clear of Todd, who was able to keep pace with the FHO Racing rider before his decision to run with the softer rear Metzeler tyre on the Burrows Engineering/RK Racing BMW backfired.

Todd still managed to seal the runner-up spot ahead of Germany’s David Datzer to give the Ulster team a maiden podium at the Macau GP.

The 29-year-old will be hoping to go one better and kick-start his full-time move to Faye Ho’s BMW squad in style.

Todd, who will step up to the British Superbike Championship in 2025 after winning the Superstock 1000 title for a second time this year, revealed he is set to ride a Superstock-spec BMW M1000RR in the Saturday’s race.

“I’ll basically be riding a ’stock bike because that’s the safest option and it’s what I’m used to,” said the Saltburn man.

“The Superbike brings so many complications into it because I haven’t ridden a Superbike all year and even in the Superbike class, it was basically a Superstock bike with a fully tuned motor.

“It was an easier option to just ride the Superstock bike and I can update my settings in.”

Todd will run Metzeler tyres while team-mate Hickman is on Dunlops, adding extra intrigue in what has been billed as an expected battle between the FHO Racing duo.

“I’m going to run Metzelers in Macau because they’re what I’ve been using this season, so there’s going to be a tyre difference between us too, and obviously he’s on a Superbike, but you never know; we’ll see how it goes and first things first, we’ve got to get used to the bike in practice, have a good time in Macau and see what happens results-wise,” added Todd.

“I’m not trying to force anything but you saw how close I was to him last year on John Burrows’ bike and I certainly know I could have done a little bit more having selected a better tyre; personally I made a wrong tyre choice last year running the super soft tyre.

“I’m going there with a bit of a different view and hopefully we can right the wrongs and take the crown off Hicky, so we’ll see how we go.”

Record nine-time winner Michael Rutter cannot be ruled out with his unrivalled knowledge of the Guia course and is also part of the FHO Racing line-up along with protégé Craig Neve.

Finland’s Erno Kostamo, the 2022 winner, is another top contender, while Magherafelt man Paul Jordan is the sole rider from Ireland taking part this weekend on the Jackson Racing Honda Fireblade.