Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Kobayashi earns Macau pole

Kamui Kobayashi took pole position for the Macau Grand Prix in a rain-affected and incident-filled qualifying session on Friday - before smashing his car against the barriers in the final seconds

The Japanese ASM driver moved to the top of the timesheets with 14 minutes of qualifying remaining and, with light rain falling over the track, his rivals were unable to respond to his best effort.

But that did not stop Kobayashi from trying to go better and in his efforts he swiped the barriers at the Esses - badly damaging the left hand side of his car.

Fellow Japanese racer Kohei Hirate set the second fastest time for Manor Motorsport, with Signature's Romain Grosjean taking third place.

Marko Asmer, who had been on provisional pole after Thursday's first session, was fourth fastest, with Richard Antinucci setting the fifth best time - although he is due to lose his fastest qualifying time for not slowing for yellow flags in practice on Thursday.

Formula Three Euroseries champion Paul di Resta escaped a brush with the tyre barrier at R Bend to set the sixth quickest time, ahead of Roberto Streit.

British F3 champion Mike Conway's hopes of taking pole position were dashed early in the session when he smashed into the barriers at the final corner on a quick lap.

After getting sideways, his left rear wheel swiped the end of the tyre barrier and broke away as it shattered his rear suspension. He pulled to a halt after avoiding a spin, with the wheel trailing behind him. The Raikkonen-Robertson Racing driver will start 12th, having been one of the favourites for the top spot.

Japanese F3 champion Adrian Sutil was another pre-event favourite in the wars. He crashed at Police Bend in the restarted session and put himself out of contention. The German will line up 15th.

A third red flag was caused when American Charlie Kimball crashed at R-Bend and badly damaged the left hand side of his car.

Pos  Driver             Car                     Time              Laps
 1.  Kamui Kobayashi    Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:13.449           14
 2.  Kohei Hirate       Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:13.566 +  0.117  13
 3.  Romain Grosjean    Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:13.930 +  0.481  11
 4.  Richard Antinucci  Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:14.105 +  0.656  15
 5.  Paul Di Resta      Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:14.175 +  0.726  14
 6.  Robert Streit      Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:14.217 +  0.768  15
 7.  Kazuki Nakajima    Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:14.231 +  0.782  14
 8.  Charlie Kimball    Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:14.379 +  0.930   8
 9.  Sebastian Vettel   Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:14.390 +  0.941  15
10.  Kodai Tsukakoshi   Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:14.553 +  1.104  15
11.  Mike Conway        Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:14.578 +  1.129   5
12.  Fabio Carbone      Dallara Nissan          2:14.853 +  1.404  16
13.  Maro Engel         Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:14.857 +  1.408  16
14.  Marko Asmer        Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:15.108 +  1.659  13
15.  Adrian Sutil       Dallara Toyota-TOM'S    2:15.159 +  1.710   5
16.  Stephen Jelley     Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:15.490 +  2.041  18
17.  Sebastien Buemi    Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:15.614 +  2.165  15
18.  Daisuke Ikeda      Dallara Toyota-TOM'S    2:15.786 +  2.337  15
19.  James Jakes        Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:16.010 +  2.561  12
20.  Jonathan Kennard   Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:16.644 +  3.195  16
21.  Oliver Jarvis      Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:16.945 +  3.496  16
22.  Yelmer Buurman     Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:17.091 +  3.642  15
23.  Maximo Cortes      Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:17.191 +  3.742  16
24.  Roldan Rodriguez   Dallara Mercedes-HWA    2:17.286 +  3.837  16
25.  Mauro Massironi    Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:18.494 +  5.045  16
26.  James Winslow      Dallara Toyota-TOM'S    2:18.957 +  5.508  12
27.  Rodolfo Avila      Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:19.016 +  5.567  10
28.  Michael Ho         Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:20.590 +  7.141  16
29.  Cheong Lou Meng    Dallara Honda-Mugen NB  2:25.917 + 12.468  11
30.  Jo Merszei         Dallara Toyota-Tom's    2:26.326 + 12.877   9
31.  Kazuya Oshima      Dallara Toyota-TOM'S     No time
32.  Lei Kit Meng       Dallara Opel-Spiess      No time

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Conway quickest in final practice
Next article Kobayashi's car to be fixed in time

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe