Macau GP: Da Costa grabs provisional pole as crashes mar session
Antonio Felix da Costa came through an incident-packed first qualifying session – which featured four red flag stoppages – to secure provisional pole position for the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix qualification race on Thursday.
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Da Costa was among the fastest cars throughout the shortened session that witnessed a series of incidents.
But it was the Carlin driver’s best effort with 12-minutes remaining that secured him the front spot before a final red flag – caused by Daniel Juncadella crashing at Fishermen’s Bend – brought qualifying to an early end.
“It’s still very early days because so much can happen on a Macau Grand Prix weekend, but it’s always better to end up first than last,” said da Costa. “I quickly could get up to speed with the track, but wasn’t so happy with the car after first practice this morning.
“But the team did a great job to make some changes and everything clicked, so I’m pretty happy.”
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Callum Ilott ended up second fastest after briefly topping the timesheets prior to da Costa’s best overall time – ending the day 0.226 seconds down.
Felix Rosenqvist, who had been quickest in morning practice, was the third fastest driver as he said he still needed to better understand the new Pirelli tyres that are being used in Macau for the first time.
Japanese F3 champion Kenta Yamashita ended up fourth quickest, after recovering from losing a wheel in the early stages of the session – and causing the first red flag to come out after 15 minutes to allow it to be recovered.
The second red flag came out eight minutes later when a car was briefly stranded in the middle of the track before Lisboa.
The third stoppage was caused with 12 minutes remaining after Lando Norris – an impressive seventh quickest – crashed at San Francisco at the same time as Joel Eriksson crashed at the Solitude Esses.
The session was stopped for good after Juncadella, who ended up fifth, hit the barriers at Fishermen’s with two minutes remaining.
Qualifying results:
Pos | Name | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Antonio Felix Da Costa | Carlin | 02:11.5 | |
2 | Callum Ilott | Van Amersfoort Racing | 02:11.8 | 0.226 |
3 | Felix Rosenqvist | SJM Theodore Racing by Prema | 02:11.8 | 0.262 |
4 | Kenta Yamashita | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 02:11.8 | 0.262 |
5 | Daniel Juncadella | Hitech GP | 02:11.8 | 0.286 |
6 | Sergio Sette Camara | Carlin | 02:12.0 | 0.459 |
7 | Lando Norris | Carlin | 02:12.0 | 0.461 |
8 | Nick Cassidy | SJM Theodore Racing by Prema | 02:12.1 | 0.588 |
9 | Jake Hughes | Carlin | 02:12.4 | 0.825 |
10 | Sam Macleod | Fortec Motorsport | 02:12.5 | 1.001 |
11 | Alexander Sims | Double R Racing | 02:12.6 | 1.065 |
12 | Arjun Maini | Motopark | 02:12.7 | 1.122 |
13 | George Russell | Hitech GP | 02:12.7 | 1.135 |
14 | Anthoine Hubert | Van Amersfoort Racing | 02:12.7 | 1.192 |
15 | Maximilian Gunther | SJM Theodore Racing by Prema | 02:13.0 | 1.482 |
16 | Daniel Ticktum | Double R Racing | 02:13.1 | 1.567 |
17 | Pedro Piquet | Van Amersfoort Racing | 02:13.3 | 1.741 |
18 | CHANG Wing Chung | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 02:13.3 | 1.801 |
19 | Nikita Mazepin | Hitech GP | 02:13.4 | 1.903 |
20 | Joel Eriksson | Motopark | 02:13.5 | 1.944 |
21 | YE Hong Li | B-Max Racing Team | 02:14.0 | 2.477 |
22 | David Beckmann | Mucke Motorsport | 02:14.1 | 2.527 |
23 | Jann Mardenborough | B-Max Racing Team | 02:14.2 | 2.639 |
24 | ZHOU Guan Yu | Motopark | 02:14.3 | 2.743 |
25 | Keyvan Andres Soori | Mcke Motorsport | 02:14.8 | 3.268 |
26 | Sho Tsuboi | Team TOM'S | 02:15.1 | 3.516 |
27 | Daiki Sasaki | B-Max Racing Team | 02:15.3 | 3.726 |
28 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Fortec Motorsport | 02:15.3 | 3.801 |
29 | Tadasuke Makino | Toda Racing | 02:15.6 | 4.083 |
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