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Jake Hughes on provisional Macau GP pole with record lap

by Bethonie Waring

HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes ended first Macau Grand Prix qualifying session with a new track record to put himself on provisional pole.

The Brit-topped a red flag riddled session with a 2m06.793s lap, just 0.051 seconds faster than Trident’s David Beckmann.

Four red flags halted running. The first came at the halfway mark when Campos Racing’s Enaam Ahmed made contact with the barriers. Though he was able to get going again, he leaked fluid across the track as he made his way to the pits.

Ferrari junior Marcus Armstrong was top of the order after the first 30 minutes, though dropped to fourth as Beckmann and his Prema team-mates Robert Schwartzman and Frederik Vesti all found improvements after the track turned green again.

Only five minutes after action resumed, the second red flag was brought when Hitech GP’s Max Fewtrell ran into the wall.

Lap times improved dramatically again once Fewtrell?s car was cleared and action resumed. Hughes rose to fourth, while Fewtrell’s team-mate Juri Vips claimed the top spot, but another improvement from Macau expert Hughes put him on pole.

Beckmann also improved to go ahead of Vips, while Armstrong jumped back up to fourth.

Carlin duo Logan Sargeant and Daniel Ticktum, winner at Macau for the last two years, were fifth and sixth. Sauber junior Callum Ilott was seventh fastest, ahead of Vesti, Shwartzman, and ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard.

Two more red flag periods disrupted the final 10 minutes of the session. Trident’s Olli Caldwell came to a stop on track with just six minutes on the clock, in his first weekend in FIA Formula 3 Championship cars. The session did resume, but there would be no improvements at the top.

Almost as soon as the track turned green, Shwartzman ran off at turn three and Campos’s Alessio Deledda came to a stop. Not long after, Yuki Tsunoda crashed and brought out the final red flag before he had even set a lap.

 

Qualifying results
Pos Name Team Time
1 Jake Hughes HWA Racelab 2m06.793s
2 David Beckmann Trident +0.051s
3 Juri Vips Hitech GP +0.150s
4 Marcus Armstrong Prema +0.492s
5 Logan Sargeant Carlin +0.619s
6 Dan Ticktum Carlin +0.807s
7 Callum Ilott Sauber Junior Team by Charouz +0.988s
8 Frederik Vesti Prema +1.110s
9 Robert Shwartzman Prema +1.29s
10 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix +1.457s
11 Leonardo Pulcini Campos Racing +1.494s
12 Alessio Lorandi Trident +1.564s
13 Felipe Drugovich Caelin +1.694s
14 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport +1.785s
15 Arjun Maini Jenzer Motorsport +1.851s
16 Sebastian Fernandez ART Grand Prix +2.259s
17 Enaam Ahmed Campos Racing +2.418s
18 Liam Lawson MP Motorsport +2.503s
19 Ferdinand Habsburg ART Grand Prix +2.697s
20 Keyvan Andres HWA Racelab +2.867s
21 Charles Leong Jenzer Motorsport +3.125s
22 David Schumacher Sauber Junior Team by Charouz +3.583s
23 Sophia Floersch HWA Racelab +4.096s
24 Enzo Fittipaldi Sauber Junior Team by Charouz +4.101s
25 Andreas Estner Jenzer Motorsport +4.213s
26 Lukas Dunner MP Motorsport +4.336s
27 Olli Caldwell Trident +5.312s
28 Alessio Deledda Campos Racing +6.198s
29 Max Fewtrell Hitech GP +9.743s
30 Yuki Tsunoda Hitech GP no time