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Macau GP: Felix Rosenqvist wins final interrupted by big crash

Felix Rosenqvist took victory in a dramatic Macau Grand Prix final, despite falling from pole position to fourth in the opening seconds of the legendary Formula 3 race

Rosenqvist was passed into the first kink by team-mate Lucas Auer, and also fell prey to Tom Blomqvist and Esteban Ocon on the long run to Lisboa.

Blomqvist moved level with Auer for the lead, and the Austrian was so late on the brakes defending his advantage that he skirted the escape road, rejoining fourth.

In his wake, Blomqvist turned in as Ocon tried to stick his nose inside, the two colliding.

Both continued, with Ocon veering right to defend the inside line, but his steering was broken and he went straight on at San Francisco Bend, taking Blomqvist into the barriers.

There was a chain-reaction pile-up behind, with Yu Kanamaru getting launched over Jordan King and then Blomqvist before landing on a wall at the side of the track, his right-rear wheel inches from Ocon's head.

The race was red-flagged and restarted behind the safety car. When it went green Rosenqvist nailed the restart, but the sister Mucke Motorsport Dallara-Mercedes of Auer slipstreamed him down to Lisboa and again took the lead - although Auer again outbraked himself and ran wide.

That promoted Nick Cassidy to second in the ThreeBond/T-Sport Dallara-NBE, and the New Zealander looked comfortable in that position for a long time.

With a couple of laps remaining Cassidy lost time in the final sector, and Auer moved into his slipstream, passing him on the run to Lisboa. But yet again he ran wide, allowing Cassidy to sneak back into second.

Auer then retook the position later in the lap, and pulled clear to earn the Berlin-based Mucke team a one-two, with Rosenqvist's winning margin 4.372 seconds.

Cassidy, on only his fifth F3 race outing, completed the podium on a tremendous day for the T-Sport team, with fellow British squad Double R Racing equally delighted with Roberto Merhi's fourth place. The Spaniard withstood a late attack from Prema Powerteam driver Nicholas Latifi.

AUTOSPORT's top 10 European F3 drivers of 2014

Stefano Coletti was a distant sixth in his EuroInternational car, just managing to fend off a charging Max Verstappen, the Van Amersfoort Racing prodigy storming from 24th on the grid to seventh.

Santino Ferrucci, Japanese championship ace Kenta Yamashita and Gustavo Menezes completed the top 10.

Of the other UK drivers, Will Buller climbed from the back of the grid to finish 14th, Dan Wells was 17th, Sam MacLeod was 20th after an off at Lisboa, and King retired his repaired car two laps after the restart due to a puncture.

RESULTS - 15 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Felix Rosenqvist Kashbet.com by Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 1h08m46.691s
2 Lucas Auer KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 4.372s
3 Nick Cassidy ThreeBond with T-Sport Dallara/NBE 8.999s
4 Roberto Merhi W66.com Double R Racing Dallara/Mercedes 9.799s
5 Nicholas Latifi SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 10.413s
6 Stefano Coletti EuroInternational Dallara/Mercedes 24.000s
7 Max Verstappen Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 24.455s
8 Santino Ferrucci Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 31.081s
9 Kenta Yamashita TOM'S Dallara/Toyota 34.334s
10 Gustavo Menezes Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 35.246s
11 Markus Pommer Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 36.576s
12 Antonio Giovinazzi Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 37.319s
13 Tatiana Calderon JZR/ Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 41.930s
14 William Buller Signature Dallara/Volkswagen 43.986s
15 Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 44.972s
16 Alex Palou Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 48.063s
17 Dan Wells Toda Racing Dallara/Toda 52.724s
18 Mitsunori Takaboshi B-MAX Racing Team Dallara/Toyota 57.034s
19 Andy Chang Team West-Tec F3 Dallara/Mercedes 1m08.334s
20 Sam MacLeod TOM'S Dallara/Toyota 1m49.990s
21 Felix Serralles Team West-Tec F3 Dallara/Mercedes 2m14.441s
- Antonio Fuoco SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes Retirement
- Jordan King GR Asia with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen Retirement
- Esteban Ocon SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes Retirement
- Richard Goddard ThreeBond with T-Sport Dallara/NBE Retirement
- Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes Retirement
- Tom Blomqvist Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen Retirement
- Yu Kanamaru Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen Retirement

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