Macau Grand Prix poleman Marco Wittmann confident he can carry qualifying pace into race
Macau Grand Prix pole position man Marco Wittmann has no doubts that he has the pace to win Formula 3's blue riband event after securing a last-gasp pole position on Friday
Wittmann had looked favourite for the top spot in qualifying after setting the fastest time in the morning's free practice run, but he faced a major challenge from Roberto Merhi and Felipe Nasr throughout the 30-minute session.
But after losing the top spot to Merhi near the end, he responded in perfect style with a supreme effort to edge out his nearest rival by just 0.064 seconds.
Speaking afterwards, Wittmann said that pole position felt much better because of the manner in which it was won.
"The session was really, really good," said the Signature driver. "Roberto and I were fighting hard for a good lap time. During the session my first fastest lap was a 2m13.1s, and I thought maybe it was enough. But then Roberto improved and I had to go again.
"Here, you need to try and get a tow because you can gain some good lap time, but for the last laps I couldn't get it - so I tried really hard to push in the city to go really quick.
"To do it on the last lap was really amazing, and it is a great feeling to finish first in qualifying. But still we have two long races and, as you know, you can overtake here quite easily on the main straight.
"But I think we have good pace and for that I am quite confident."
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