Edoardo Mortara wins Macau qualification race

Italian Edoardo Mortara celebrates

Edoardo Mortara will start Sunday’s Windsor Arch Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix from pole position after taking a convincing win in Saturday’s qualification race.

The Signature Plus driver started the race from third on the grid, but managed to get up to second, right behind leader Keisuke Kunimoto, by the time the field streamed into Lisboa Bend for the first time.

After a brief Safety Car period required to clear the stranded car of James Jakes from the side of the track after the Briton collided with Brendon Hartley off the start, Mortara bided his time to steadily close in the leading TOM’S driver.

At the start of lap seven Mortara was right onto Kunimoto’s tail and he got a slipstream on the run down to Lisboa, which allowed him to pull alongside on the left and grab the lead under braking.

James Jakes (#15) and Brandon Hartley (#5) clash. Hartley makes it back to the pits, his team, Carlin Motorsport, repairs the car and Brandon rejoins and sets fastest lap

From there, Mortara opened up a gap of more than two seconds before easing off to take the checkered flag just more than one second ahead.

“It was a good race today," said Mortara. “Once I created a gap it was not so important to push, so I controlled the race. I am really happy for this victory, for myself, Signature and Volkswagen."

Kunimoto was able to hold onto his second place during the remainder of the race, finishing just ahead of a train of cars comprising Roberto Streit, Oliver Turvey and Sam Bird.

There was disappointment for pole position man Carlo van Dam, who retired on the first lap of the race. He brushed the wall going through Mandarin on the first lap and suffered a puncture.

Attempting to get back to the pits, he carried on for two more corners before a collision with fellow Dutchman Renger van der Zande at San Francisco Bend put him out for good.

RACE CLASSIFICATION – RACE 1

POS NO DRIVER NAT TEAM TIME LAPS GAP B. LAP
1 7 Edoardo MORTARA ITA Signature Plus 29:20.769 10 2:13.194
2 2 Keisuke KUNIMOTO JPN Tom's 29:21.958 10 1.189 2:13.512
3 11 Roberto STREIT BRA Raikkonen-Robertson Racing 29:23.673 10 2.904 2:13.777
4 3 Oliver TURVEY GBR Carlin Motorsport 29:24.133 10 3.364 2:13.780
5 21 Sam BIRD GBR Manor Motorsport 29:24.753 10 3.984 2:13.978
6 4 Jaime ALGUERSUARI ESP Carlin Motorsport 29:25.392 10 4.623 2:13.928
7 17 Stefano COLETTI MON Prema Powerteam 29:25.721 10 4.952 2:13.189
8 6 Marcus ERICSSON SWE Carlin Motorsport 29:29.568 10 8.799 2:14.436
9 28 Daniel CAMPOS-HULL ESP HBR Motorsport 29:43.217 10 22.448 2:14.746
10 24 Kei COZZOLINO ITA Now Motor Sports 29:43.825 10 23.056 2:14.198
11 27 James WINSLOW GBR Ombra Racing 29:47.555 10 26.786 2:15.330
12 30 Laurens VANTHOOR BEL RC Motorsport 29:48.859 10 28.090 2:15.394
13 23 Jon LANCASTER GBR Manor Motorsport 30:03.640 10 42.871 2:16.612
14 25 Koki SAGA JPN Le Beausset Motorsports 30:09.347 10 48.578 2:16.958
15 19 Walter GRUBMULLER AUT Hitech Racing 30:10.208 10 49.439 2:15.222
16 9 Mika MAKI FIN Signature Plus 30:18.509 10 57.740 2:14.901
17 20 Roberto MERHI ESP Hitech Racing 30:27.712 10 1:06.943 2:13.930
18 26 Massaki MATSUSHITA JPN PTRS by Ombra 30:52.314 10 1:31.545 2:18.468
19 31 Nicola de MARCO ITA RC Motorsport 31:05.699 10 1:44.930 2:20.910
Not Classified
5 Brendon HARTLEY NZL Carlin Motorsport 30:13.458 7 N.C.F. 2:13.169
12 Michael HO MAC Raikkonen-Robertson Racing 16:14.865 4 D.N.F. 2:21.443
29 Basil SHAABAN LEB HBR Motorsport 13:56.812 3 D.N.F. 2:43.935
22 Kazuya OSHIMA JPN Manor Motorsport 14:01.267 3 D.N.F. 3:00.350
1 Carlo VAN DAM NED Tom's 0 D.N.F.
16 Renger van der ZANDE NED Prema Powerteam 0 D.N.F.
15 James JAKES GBR ART Grand Prix 0 D.N.F.
18 Max CHILTON GBR Hitech Racing 0 D.N.F.
14 Jules BIANCHI FRA ART Grand Prix 0 D.N.F.
8 CHENG Cong Fu CHN Signature Plus 0 D.N.F.
10 Atte MUSTONEN FIN Raikkonen-Robertson Racing 0 D.N.F.
Fast Lap 5 Brendon HARTLEY Carlin Motorsport 2:13.169 6 102.80mph