Asmer happy to settle for second
Marko Asmer says that he made little effort to compete with Oliver Jarvis once the British driver had passed him during Saturday's qualification race at Macau
The British Formula Three champion took the lead of the race at the start, but he offered little resistance to Jarvis when the pair diced for the lead, and he admitted that he was happy to let the gap between the two grow after that.
"Oliver was a bit quicker than me in the first three or four laps and I was struggling for grip and tyre temperature," said Asmer.
"When he went away my tyres started to come in and it was not too bad, I was keeping up with him, and he was not pulling away.
"When I tried a bit harder I could see I could catch a bit, but I knew there was no point to try and win the race as it is the final race that counts."
The Estonian is hoping that the newer tyres he has for tomorrow's race will enable him to get up to speed earlier in the race, but he is also concerned about the strength of the TOM's Toyota engine compared to his Mercedes unit.
"The TOM's engine is very fast in a straight line so the Mercedes guys have a little bit of thinking to get it a bit faster, as they were really quick," he said.
"But when my tyres came in eventually then I didn't have to push to keep up with him. I let the gap grow because I didn't need to win the race.
"It is not very good to start on pole (for the main race), so it was not a problem. We have to do something to get the tyres heated up quicker, but we have a newer set tomorrow so it should be better."
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