Kobayashi's car to be fixed in time

The Japanese driver was pushing hard in the closing stages when he lost control going through the Esses and smashed into the barriers. The impact badly damaged the right hand side of his car.

However, after the Dallara chassis was returned to his ASM team, subsequent inspection has found that the damage is not too bad and the car will be fixed overnight.

"It is fine, the team have told me they can repair it," said Kobayashi. "It was a shame really to have the accident, but I was trying to improve my time. Luckily there was not big damage."

Although Kobayashi's pole position is a big surprise, and the first of his Formula Three career, he is confident that he has the pace to be able to win the category's biggest race at Macau this weekend.

"For sure I am very happy with this performance, which is my first pole in F3," he explained. "I got a lot of confidence about my speed after practice and it was quite difficult to go to the limit without crashing in qualifying.

"The priority tomorrow (for the qualifying race) will be to finish, although I hope to win. All I can do is try my best."