Macau F3: Rookie Alex Lynn secures pole on debut
Formula 3 rookie Alex Lynn took a shock pole position for the Macau Grand Prix after recording the fastest time in the second qualifying session
The Briton, who was fourth in the British F3 International Series this year, leapt to the top of the times by 0.278 seconds in his Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes with eight minutes remaining. Moments later, Lucas Auer crashed at R Bend to bring out the red flags.
After the restart, the drivers were on their first flying laps when Felipe Nasr slid sideways into the tyre wall, again at R Bend, to cause another session stoppage. With only two minutes left on the clocks, there was no restart.
"I'm really happy with that result," said Lynn. "I just clicked nicely with the circuit from yesterday morning, and today is a great day! I lined up [Ryo] Hirakawa at the start of the lap for a tow and got in front of him into Lisboa. From then it was a clean lap - not crazy or out of control."
Until Lynn's lap, Antonio Felix da Costa was clinging on to the top spot in his Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen with his time from Thursday, although European champion Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes) had got within 0.001s of the Portuguese driver.
But this was a scrappy session for da Costa due to the stoppages, and he also lost time pitting for his new set of tyres during green-flag running.
"Alex did a good job, but it's Sunday that counts," he said.
Both Juncadella and Felix Rosenqvist, fourth in his Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes, felt they were hampered by traffic and red flags, although like da Costa they were not too concerned with not being on pole on a circuit where it is relatively easy to pass in F3.
For more insight from the Macau WTCC and F3 weekend read our rolling Macau GP news blog.
Carlos Sainz Jr and Nasr, who improved on his Thursday time before his accident, form an all-Carlin third row, while Harry Tincknell made a major improvement to go seventh on the grid in his Fortec car. He will share the fourth row with Mucke driver Pascal Wehrlein.
GP3 star Daniel Abt just managed to pop in a lap before the final red flag to go ninth in his Carlin car, ahead of Prema duo Raffaele Marciello and Hannes van Asseldonk.
Behind them, Pipo Derani made it three of Fortec's rookies in the top 12, although the team's other driver, Felix Serralles, caused the first of the three red flags when he crashed right in front of team-mate Lynn at Faraway Hill.
Combined qualifying times: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Alex Lynn Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 2m13.122s 2. Antonio Felix da Costa Carlin Dallara-VW 2m13.400s + 0.278s 3. Daniel Juncadella Prema Dallara-Mercedes 2m13.401s + 0.279s 4. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 2m13.420s + 0.298s 5. Carlos Sainz Jr Carlin Dallara-VW 2m13.421s + 0.299s 6. Felipe Nasr Carlin Dallara-VW 2m13.556s + 0.434s 7. Harry Tincknell Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 2m13.577s + 0.455s 8. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 2m13.721s + 0.599s 9. Daniel Abt Carlin Dallara-VW 2m13.758s + 0.636s 10. Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Mercedes 2m13.789s + 0.667s 11. Hannes van Asseldonk Prema Dallara-Mercedes 2m13.885s + 0.763s 12. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 2m14.068s + 0.946s 13. Jack Harvey Carlin Dallara-VW 2m14.082s + 0.960s 14. Alexander Sims T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 2m14.085s + 0.963s 15. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Mercedes 2m14.366s + 1.244s 16. Tom Blomqvist Euro International Dallara-VW 2m14.648s + 1.526s 17. Will Buller Carlin Dallara-VW 2m14.744s + 1.622s 18. Hideki Yamauchi B-Max Dallara-Toyota 2m14.790s + 1.668s 19. Jazeman Jaafar TOM'S Dallara-Toyota 2m15.055s + 1.933s 20. Sven Muller Prema Dallara-Mercedes 2m15.391s + 2.269s 21. Kevin Korjus Double R Dallara-Mercedes 2m15.768s + 2.646s 22. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Mercedes 2m15.804s + 2.682s 23. Yuichi Nakayama TOM'S Dallara-Toyota 2m15.870s + 2.748s 24. Jimmy Eriksson Double R Dallara-Mercedes 2m16.015s + 2.893s 25. Lucas Auer Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 2m16.187s + 3.065s 26. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 2m16.559s + 3.437s 27. Luis Sa Silva Angola Dallara-Mercedes 2m16.624s + 3.502s 28. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Mercedes 2m16.766s + 3.644s 29. Ryo Hirakawa RSS Dallara-Toyota 2m17.151s + 4.029s 30. Andrea Roda Jo Zeller Dallara-Mercedes 2m18.140s + 5.018s
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