Jake Hughes takes provisional pole at Macau

Jake Hughes
Jake Hughes

Jake Hughes is the provisional polesitter for the 2019 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup after narrowly beating David Beckmann in the first of two qualifying sessions.

The Briton smashed this morning's unofficial lap record in the process of topping the session, his 2:06.793 time now the fastest ever Formula 3 lap around the Guia circuit.

It was Marcus Armstrong who set the early qualifying pace, a 2:10.154 putting him a tenth clear of SJM Prema Theodore Racing teammate Robert Shwartzman after the first representative runs.

On 10 minutes the session was stopped for the first time, Enaam Ahmed bringing out the red flag thanks to a trip down the Lisboa Bend escape road.

The restart was followed by a wave of improvements, with Shwartzman leading the way as times dipped into the 2:08s. But the green running was brief, Lisboa Bend striking again as Max Fewtrell hit the outside wall to spark a second stoppage.

Once again, the restart brought a new benchmark, Jüri Vips charging to the top with a 2:06.943. But the Estonian's stint at the top was brief, Jake Hughes banking the time that would ultimately top the session minutes later. At the same time David Beckmann slipped into second, his time just 0.05s short of Hughes and less than a tenth faster than Vips.

With five minutes to go there was another stoppage when Olli Caldwell's Trident Motorsport entry rolled to a stop on the way out of Fishermen's Bend. But this time there was no improvement from the restart, a run of yellow flags, and a final red when Yuki Tsunoda hit the wall at Maternity Bend, helping Hughes' lap remain unchallenged.

Armstrong ended up fourth behind Vips, the Kiwi struggling with traffic throughout the session. Logan Sargeant was an impressive fifth, followed by two-time race winner Dan Ticktum and Callum Ilott.

Frederik Vesti was eighth quickest, with Shwartzman left in ninth after a bad run with yellow and red flags, and an out-lap spin on his final run.

Qualifying – Provisional

POS DRIVER TEAM TIME GAP
1 Jake Hughes HWA Racelab 2m06.793s 0.000s
2 David Beckmann Trident Motorsport 2m06.844s 0.051s
3 Juri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 2m06.943s 0.150s
4 Marcus Armstrong SJM Theodore Racing by Prema 2m07.285s 0.492s
5 Logan Sargeant Carlin Buzz Racing 2m07.412s 0.619s
6 Dan Ticktum Carlin Buzz Racing 2m07.600s 0.807s
7 Callum Ilott Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 2m07.781s 0.988s
8 Frederik Vesti SJM Theodore Racing by Prema 2m07.903s 1.110s
9 Robert Shwartzman SJM Theodore Racing by Prema 2m08.083s 1.290s
10 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 2m08.250s 1.457s
11 Leonardo Pulcini Campos Racing 2m08.287s 1.494s
12 Alessio Lorandi Trident Motorsport 2m08.357s 1.564s
13 Felipe Drugovich Carlin Buzz Racing 2m08.487s 1.694s
14 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 2m08.578s 1.785s
15 Arjun Maini Jenzer Motorsport 2m08.644s 1.851s
16 Sebastian Fernandez ART Grand Prix 2m09.052s 2.259s
17 Enaam Ahmed Campos Racing 2m09.211s 2.418s
18 Liam Lawson MP Motorsport 2m09.296s 2.503s
19 Ferdinand Habsburg ART Grand Prix 2m09.490s 2.697s
20 Keyvan Andres HWA Racelab 2m09.660s 2.867s
21 Charles Leong Jenzer Motorsport 2m09.918s 3.125s
22 David Schumacher Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 2m10.381s 3.588s
23 Sophia Florsch HWA Racelab 2m10.889s 4.096s
24 Enzo Fittipaldi Sauber Junior Team by Charouz 2m10.894s 4.101s
25 Andreas Estner Jenzer Motorsport 2m11.006s 4.213s
26 Lukas Dunner MP Motorsport 2m11.129s 4.336s
27 Olli Caldwell Trident Motorsport 2m12.105s 5.312s
28 Alessio Deledda Campos Racing 2m12.991s 6.198s
Max Fewtrell Hitech Grand Prix 2m16.536s 9.743s
Yuki Tsunoda Hitech Grand Prix