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

Ericsson leads first practice at Macau

Marcus Ericsson kicked off his TOM's team's bid for a hat-trick of victories in the Macau Grand Prix in perfect fashion on Thursday morning when he led the way in the first free practice session

The Swede, who won this year's Japanese Formula 3 Championship, vied for the top position throughout the 30-minute session that took place ahead of this afternoon's first qualifying session.

He eventually sealed the best time in the final minute of practice, to demote Signature's Edoardo Mortara - who has returned to Macau to try and secure the victory that eluded him last season.

Although missing out on the top spot, Mortara was pleased with how the first session had gone, as he re-adjusted himself to both F3 and Macau following his season in the GP2 Series this year.

"It was a good start," said Mortara, who finished at Macau second last year. "I didn't do many laps, but I know I could have gone faster - as there was a yellow flag on my quickest lap and I had to back off. The car seems good and I know where I can make improvements."

Carlin Motorsport duo Brendon Hartley and Daniel Ricciardo were third and fourth fastest, and reported no problems with their cars, while Prema Powerteam's Stefano Coletti was fifth quickest ahead of ART's Valtteri Bottas.

The session was red-flagged just before the halfway stage when Fortec Motorsport's Victor Garcia crashed into the barriers at Fishermen's Bend and his car rebounded into the middle of the track.

Other drivers to hit trouble were Jake Rosenzweig, who went off at the Melco Hairpin; Daniel McKenzie, who crashed into the tyre barriers at Lisboa Bend; and Daniel Zampieri who crashed at Police.

Pos Driver                  Team           Car     Time         Gap
 1. Marcus Ericsson         TOM's          D/T     2:13.035
 2. Edoardo Mortara         Signature      D/V     2:13.584  +0.549
 3. Brendon Hartley         Carlin         D/V     2:13.863  +0.828
 4. Daniel Ricciardo        Carlin         D/V     2:13.882  +0.847
 5. Stefano Coletti         Prema          D/M     2:14.175  +1.140
 6. Valtteri Bottas         ART            D/M     2:14.411  +1.376
 7. Roberto Merhi           Manor          D/M     2:14.584  +1.549
 8. Sam Bird                ART            D/M     2:14.588  +1.553
 9. Jules Bianchi           ART            D/M     2:14.873  +1.838
10. Renger van der Zande    Double R       D/M     2:15.109  +2.074
11. Jean-Karl Vernay        Signature      D/V     2:15.123  +2.088
12. Alexander Sims          Double R       D/M     2:15.227  +2.192
13. Laurens Vanthoor        Signature      D/V     2:15.422  +2.387
14. Mika Maki               Hitech         D/M     2:15.941  +2.906
15. Daniel Zampieri         Prema          D/M     2:16.159  +3.124
16. Max Chilton             Carlin         D/V     2:16.300  +3.265
17. Wayne Boyd              Hitech         D/M     2:16.719  +3.684
18. Kei Cozzolino           Toda           D/T     2:16.914  +3.879
19. Carlos Huertas          Manor          D/M     2:16.966  +3.931
20. Takuto Iguchi           TOM's          D/T     2:17.042  +4.007
21. Koki Saga               Le Beausset    D/T     2:17.490  +4.455
22. Alexandre Imperatori    Kolles         D/V     2:17.504  +4.469
23. Yuji Kunimoto           Now            D/T     2:18.603  +5.568
24. Michael Ho              Manor          D/M     2:20.103  +7.068
25. Stef Dusseldorp         Kolles         D/V     2:20.141  +7.106
26. Jake Rosenzweig         Fortec         D/M     2:21.245  +8.210
27. Victor Garcia           Fortec         D/M     2:21.361  +8.326
28. Kevin Chen              Double R       D/M     2:21.791  +8.756
29. Henry Arundel           Carlin         D/V     2:22.145  +9.110
30. Daniel McKenzie         Fortec         D/M     2:31.980  +18.945

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Vergne to race in Britain with Carlin
Next article Ericsson takes Macau provisional pole

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