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F3 Macau GP: Rosenqvist wins qualifier after Giovinazzi penalty

Felix Rosenqvist took the honours in the Macau Grand Prix qualification race after on-the-road winner Antonio Giovinazzi was penalised for a first-lap collision

From fourth on the grid, Giovinazzi passed Charles Leclerc for third after the Mandarin kink, and then tried a move on front-row starter Daniel Juncadella at Lisboa.

The two cars got round the corner and accelerated towards San Francisco Bend, but they collided, sending Juncadella into the inside barriers, broadside across the track.

Inevitably Juncadella was hit, with Ryan Tveter, running side by side with Jake Dennis after a good start, having nowhere to go.

He in turn was hit by Callum Ilott, who cut and bruised his hand, while Alexander Albon was also eliminated.

UPDATE: Carlin hopes stewards reconsider penalty

The safety car emerged for one lap, and at the restart Giovinazzi drafted past Rosenqvist on the outside into Lisboa to take the lead, despite a wobbly moment as he rounded the corner.

From then on, the Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen extended an advantage, before Rosenqvist's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes began to claw back the gap.

Rosenqvist was even able to jink out of the slipstream on the run to Lisboa on the final lap, but he then made a mistake at the Melco hairpin after overadjusting his brake bias to compensate for locking brakes.

He only just held on to what became victory from Leclerc, whose Van Amersfoort Racing car shadowed the 2014 Macau GP winner across the line.

"I had a very good start but never expected to lead all the way down to Lisboa," said Rosenqvist.

"Then when the safety car came I knew it would be difficult to keep Antonio behind - he got me quite easily.

"I was having a lot of sliding from the car, but then I picked up the pace, although I probably would have needed another couple of laps to catch him."

From 13th on the grid, Alexander Sims was sixth after the accident, then passed Sergio Sette Camara and Sam MacLeod after the safety car to take what would become a podium for the Double R Racing team, after briefly being the fastest driver on the track.

MacLeod took fourth in the results for Team West-Tec, although Markus Pommer was looming in the closing stages after passing Motopark team-mate Sette Camara.

Mucke Motorsport's Santino Ferrucci got ahead of the second VAR car of Alessio Lorandi for what would be seventh with two laps remaining.

Ferrucci had earlier passed Arjun Maini, who took ninth in his T-Sport machine, while Giovinazzi's penalty - 20 seconds in lieu of a drive-through - dropped him to 10th.

Various other cars sustained damage in the first-lap shunt, with Mikkel Jensen, Yu Kanamaru, Yuhi Sekiguchi and Andy Chang all pitting for repairs. Peter Li crashed on his own at Police after the restart.

Follow the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix on Autosport Race Centre Live from 7:20am UK time Sunday.

RESULTS - 10 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Felix Rosenqvist SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 24m52.619s
2 Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 0.503s
3 Alexander Sims Double R Racing Dallara/Mercedes 2.701s
4 Sam MacLeod Team West-Tec F3 Dallara/Mercedes 8.399s
5 Markus Pommer Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 9.412s
6 Sergio Sette Camara Motopark Dallara/Volkswagen 13.993s
7 Santino Ferrucci KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 15.538s
8 Alessio Lorandi Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Volkswagen 16.627s
9 Arjun Maini ThreeBond with T-Sport Dallara/Threebond 17.360s
10 Antonio Giovinazzi Carlin with LC8.com Dallara/Volkswagen 17.871s
11 Jake Dennis SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 18.131s
12 Dorian Boccolacci Signature Dallara/Volkswagen 20.682s
13 Lance Stroll SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam Dallara/Mercedes 21.872s
14 Martin Cao Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 25.606s
15 Kenta Yamashita TOM'S Dallara/Toyota 26.323s
16 Yuhi Sekiguchi B-MAX Racing Team Dallara/Toyota 29.468s
17 Nick Cassidy TOM'S Dallara/Toyota 29.931s
18 Andy Chang Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes 36.386s
19 Gustavo Menezes Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 41.342s
20 Yu Kanamaru Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 1m31.509s
21 Matt Solomon Double R Racing Dallara/Mercedes 1m41.666s
22 Mikkel Jensen KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport Dallara/Mercedes 2m00.925s
- Mitsunori Takaboshi B-MAX Racing Team Dallara/Toyota Retirement
- Zhi Cong Li Jo Zeller Racing Dallara/Mercedes Retirement
- Daniel Juncadella Fortec Motorsports Dallara/Mercedes Retirement
- Ryan Tveter Team West-Tec F3 Dallara/Mercedes Retirement
- Callum Ilott Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen Retirement
- Alexander Albon Signature Dallara/Volkswagen Retirement

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