Mortara takes provisional pole position

Edoardo Mortara charges around the tight Macau circuit

Edoardo Mortara snatched provisional pole position for the Windsor Arch F3 Macau Grand Prix in first qualifying on Thursday afternoon – but was left frustrated at ending the session with a damaged car after he crashed into a rival.

The Italian had been fastest in morning practice and maintained such form throughout the incident-filled qualifying session as he steadily improved his lap time.

But his qualifying came to an abrupt end when, with just more than one minute to go, he could not avoid hitting the stranded car of Masaki Matsushita, who had spun into the middle of the road after hitting the barriers at Police.

Edoardo Mortara

Although delighted at his speed, Mortara could not hide his frustration at the incident – which damaged the nose of his car and brought the session to an early close as the track was totally blocked.

“It was really disappointing," said Mortara. “I was right behind him when he went off, and there was no warning and nothing I could do. Luckily I hit him square on, so the only damage is to the nose. The car should be repaired for the morning."

Japanese F3 champion Carlo van Dam was second fastest, and well aware of how much work there was still to do before he could feel satisfied with the result.

“It is nice to be strong here, but what really counts is final qualifying tomorrow and then the races," said the TOM’S driver. “We are well prepared."

Roberto Streit was third fastest for Raikkonen-Robertson Racing, with Brendon Hartley recovering from the gearbox problems that cost him track time in the morning to set the fourth best time. Behind Renger van der Zande, British F3 champion Jaime Alguersuari was the fastest rookie in sixth spot.

The session was red flagged two times prior to the final incident involving Mortara and Matsushita. James Jakes was pushing hard to improve his pace when he spun into the barriers at R-Bend after 17 minutes, while Nicola de Marco also crashed at the same spot following the restart.

QUALIFYING 1- PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION

POS NO DRIVER NAT TEAM TIME LAPS GAP
1 7 Edoardo MORTARA ITA Signature Plus 2:12.416 18
2 1 Carlo van DAM NED Tom's Team 2:12.772 20 0.356
3 11 Roberto STREIT BRA Raikkonen-Robertson Racing 2:13.153 18 0.737
4 5 Brendon HARTLEY NZL Carlin Motorsport 2:13.348 18 0.932
5 16 Renger van der ZANDE NED Prema Powerteam 2:13.607 18 1.191
6 4 Jaime ALGUERSUARI ESP Carlin Motorsport 2:13.669 19 1.253
7 21 Sam BIRD GBR Manor Motorsport 2:13.722 17 1.306
8 14 Jules BIANCHI FRA ART Grand Prix 2:13.840 17 1.424
9 3 Oliver TURVEY GBR Carlin Motorsport 2:14.208 19 1.792
10 15 James JAKES GBR ART Grand Prix 2:14.459 6 2.043
11 6 Marcus ERICSSON SWE Carlin Motorsport 2:14.664 18 2.248
12 2 Keisuke KUNIMOTO JPN Tom's Team 2:14.696 20 2.280
13 24 Kei COZZOLINO ITA Now Motor Sports 2:14.779 17 2.363
14 17 Stefano COLETTI MON Prema Powerteam 2:14.788 14 2.372
15 18 Max CHILTON GBR Hitech Racing 2:15.007 17 2.591
16 20 Roberto MERHI ESP Hitech Racing 2:15.574 16 3.158
17 27 James WINSLOW GBR Ombra Racing 2:15.638 17 3.222
18 19 Walter GRUBMULLER AUT Hitech Racing 2:15.731 17 3.315
19 22 Kazuya OSHIMA JPN Manor Motorsport 2:15.985 16 3.569
20 28 Daniel CAMPOS-HULL ESP HBR Motorsport 2:16.345 16 3.929
21 30 Laurens VANTHOOR BEL RC Motorsport 2:16.464 16 4.048
22 10 Atte MUSTONEN FIN Raikkonen-Robertson Racing 2:16.675 16 4.259
23 29 Basil SHAABAN LEB HBR Motorsport 2:16.939 17 4.523
24 8 CHENG Cong Fu CHN Signature Plus 2:17.050 12 4.634
25 23 Jon LANCASTER GBR Manor Motorsport 2:17.490 8 5.074
26 26 Massaki MATSUSHITA JPN PTRS by Ombra 2:18.059 17 5.643
27 12 Michael HO MAC Raikkonen-Robertson Racing 2:18.415 13 5.999
28 31 Nicola de MARCO ITA RC Motorsport 2:18.668 13 6.252
Maximum Allowed 2:25.657
25 Koki SAGA JPN Le Beausset Motorsports 2:26.492 3 14.076