Ericsson: Macau pressure is a boost

Ericsson's Japanese Formula 3 championship-winning team could make history in Sunday's event by becoming the first team to claim three consecutive Macau victories, following the success of Oliver Jarvis in 2007 and Keisuke Kunimoto last year.

That feat means there is tremendous responsibility on Ericsson's shoulders to deliver this weekend. However, rather than feel that the pressure is going to hurt his performance, Ericsson believes it is pushing him on to achieve better things.

"TOM's is a fantastic team and Macau is everything for them - they live for Macau," Ericsson told AUTOSPORT. "To be here with TOM's is an amazing feeling and they really want to be in the history books by taking three in a row, because nobody else has done it. That is the goal for the team and I want to do it for them.

"Of course that means there is pressure because they have won two years in a row and we know the car is good, as is the engine. But there is always pressure when you are a racing driver - with sponsors, media and management. The pressure is always there, and there is also the pressure that you put on yourself.

"But I don't see it as a problem. It is more inspiring to have such a good track record and to be here with them. It cannot be much better, can it?"

Ericsson snatched provisional pole position with a late effort in Thursday's first qualifying session - which came just seconds before a red flag brought proceedings to an early end.

"It was good to get there, but it wasn't so easy to be honest," said Ericsson about his qualifying efforts. "In the first session the laptime was just there but it was a bit more hard work in the second one, but we got there so it is good.

"On the first day you don't want to take too many risks. You really need to think before you push so hard. You can go so quickly into the wall, so you really have to be a bit careful. That is why it takes quite a lot of time to build up to it.

"You don't want to rush it because it is so difficult. In the end it was good. To be top in both practice and first qualifying is fantastic. The field here this year is strong. It is really, really tough, and there are a lot of good drivers there, so it feels good."