Macau: Rosenqvist edges da Costa for provisional pole

Felix Rosenqvist

Felix Rosenqvist is on provisional pole for the Star River Windsor Arch Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix after narrowly beating Antonio Felix da Costa in the first qualifying session.

GR Asia with Mucke's Rosenqvist and Carlin’s da Costa staged an epic battle for provisional pole, which started when Rosenqvist went fastest right at the mid-point of the session with a 2m13.477s lap.

The time stood for close to 10 minutes, before da Costa showed exactly why he’s the event’s reigning winner by lowering the benchmark to an astoundingly quick 2m12.862s with five minutes left to run. Rosenqvist immediately responded, his next flying lap a 2m12.751s to re-take top spot.

The pair were set to go even faster again when a Yuichi Nakayama crash brought out the red flag with 90 seconds left on the clock, permanently halting the session and handing Rosenqvist provisional pole.

Alexander Sims was a late improver to finish third for ThreeBond with T-Sport, ahead of Harry Tincknell (Carlin) and Pipo Derani (Fortec), both of whom spent part of the first half of the session on top of the times.

Carlos Sainz Junior recovered from his practice crash to finish the session sixth for Carlin, while one of the morning’s pace-setters Stefano Coletti (EuroInternational) could manage just seventh.

The biggest surprise of the session was Alex Lynn, the Theodore Racing by Prema driver ending the session down in 26th after crashing at Fishermen’s Bend early on.

URD Rennsport driver Lucas Wolf missed the entire session, his car not repaired following a morning practice crash.

Results

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Behind
1 Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 2m12.751s +0.000s
2 Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin Dallara-VW 2m12.862s +0.111s
3 Alexander Sims T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 2m13.196s +0.445s
4 Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 2m13.518s +0.767s
5 Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m13.646s +0.895s
6 Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 2m13.715s +0.964s
7 Stefano Coletti Eurointernational Dallara-Merc 2m13.777s +1.026s
8 Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 2m13.831s +1.080s
9 Kevin Korjus Double R Dallara-Merc 2m13.870s +1.119s
10 Jazeman Jaafar Carlin Dallara-VW 2m14.087s +1.336s
11 Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc 2m14.262s +1.511s
12 Tom Blomqvist Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m14.315s +1.564s
13 Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 2m14.453s +1.702s
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc 2m14.506s +1.755s
15 Yuhi Sekiguchi Mucke Dallara-Merc 2m14.553s +1.802s
16 Will Buller Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m14.591s +1.840s
17 Yuichi Nakayama TOM'S Dallara-Toyota 2m14.664s +1.913s
18 Esteban Ocon Prema Dallara-Merc 2m15.119s +2.368s
19 Katsumasa Chiyo B-Max Dallara-Toyota 2m15.253s +2.502s
20 Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW 2m15.350s +2.599s
21 John Bryant-Meisner Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m15.881s +3.130s
22 Nelson Mason Zeller Dallara-Merc 2m15.949s +3.198s
23 Ed Jones Fortec Dallara-Merc 2m16.094s +3.343s
24 Dennis van de Laar Mucke Dallara-Merc 2m16.473s +3.722s
25 Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc 2m17.334s +4.583s
26 Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc 2m18.088s +5.337s
27 Sun Zheng Double R Dallara-Merc 2m20.906s +8.155s