Macau Grand Prix: Ilott overcomes Eriksson for qualifying race win
Ferrari protege Callum Ilott took a stunning win in the Macau Grand Prix qualification race after passing Joel Eriksson with a brilliant move for the lead
Ilott, who qualified third, got ahead of the slow-starting Lando Norris for second when the lights went out, and his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes was 1.127 seconds adrift of poleman Eriksson at the end of the opening lap.
The gap remained stable over the first three laps, but then Ilott homed in on the BMW junior's Motopark Dallara-Volkswagen, and was in his slipstream at the end of the fifth lap of 10.
Ilott immediately tried a pass on the outside of Lisboa, but that didn't work.
At the beginning of lap seven, Ilott had such momentum on Eriksson that he was able to spear down the inside at the flat-out Mandarin kink, the two drivers both showing superb judgement as they battled cleanly for the lead, and Eriksson immediately tried to repass in vain at Lisboa.
By the end of that lap, Ilott was already 2.480s to the good, and three laps later he crossed the finish line 7.957s in front.
"The first time I tried to pass Joel I didn't time it right and I was on the wrong side," said Ilott, "so the next time I thought I'd try to surprise him a bit and get him into Mandarin.
"I didn't expect to pull away so quickly, but I was pushing.
"Then, when I saw the gap, I thought, 'OK, I can relax a bit'."
Eriksson, whose rear tyres were fading dramatically, spent the rest of the race fending off Motopark team-mate Sergio Sette Camara.
The Brazilian was one of many to swamp Norris on the run to the Mandarin kink on the opening lap, and from ninth on the grid was already up to fifth by Lisboa.
Sette Camara passed Carlin's Ferdinand Habsburg for fourth into Lisboa on lap two, and then slipstreamed past the Prema car of Maximilian Gunther for third after Mandarin on the sixth lap.
Norris battled his way up from the initial ninth position he dropped to and passed Dan Ticktum's Motopark machine for fifth on lap seven, but then a mysterious lack of pace - which his Carlin team could not explain immediately after the race - dropped him down again.
Ticktum, who set the fastest lap early in the race, was another driver going backwards in the closing stages, and he faded to eighth, one position behind Norris.
Habsburg repassed the struggling Norris to take fifth, while Pedro Piquet showed superb race pace in his Van Amersfoort Racing car after a disappointing second qualifying.
Once Piquet passed Yuhi Sekiguchi, he quickly caught the group in front and deposed Norris and Ticktum to take sixth. Sekiguchi finished ninth for B-Max Racing, while Prema's Guan Yu Zhou completed the top 10.
Mick Schumacher ran seventh early on, but locked up into Lisboa as he tried to pass Habsburg for sixth and took to the escape road, rejoining at the back of the field.
Result - 10 laps
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Callum Ilott | SJM Theodore Racing by Prema | Dallara/Mercedes | 22m18.077s |
2 | Joel Eriksson | Motopark with VEB | Dallara/Volkswagen | 7.957s |
3 | Sergio Sette Camara | Motopark with VEB | Dallara/Volkswagen | 8.643s |
4 | Maximilian Guenther | SJM Theodore Racing by Prema | Dallara/Mercedes | 9.798s |
5 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 10.391s |
6 | Pedro Piquet | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 10.821s |
7 | Lando Norris | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 11.966s |
8 | Dan Ticktum | Motopark with VEB | Dallara/Volkswagen | 12.657s |
9 | Yuhi Sekiguchi | B-MAX Racing Team | Dallara/Volkswagen | 13.418s |
10 | Guanyu Zhou | SJM Theodore Racing by Prema | Dallara/Mercedes | 14.715s |
11 | Kenta Yamashita | B-MAX Racing Team | Dallara/Volkswagen | 15.505s |
12 | Sacha Fenestraz | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 17.608s |
13 | Ralf Aron | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 19.371s |
14 | Marino Sato | Motopark with VEB | Dallara/Volkswagen | 25.456s |
15 | Sho Tsuboi | TOM'S | Dallara/Toyota | 26.614s |
16 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 30.412s |
17 | Tadasuke Makino | Motopark with VEB | Dallara/Volkswagen | 32.173s |
18 | Alex Palou | ThreeBond Racing with Drago Corse | Dallara/Threebond | 32.606s |
19 | Ritomo Miyata | TOM'S | Dallara/Toyota | 37.061s |
20 | Mick Schumacher | SJM Theodore Racing by Prema | Dallara/Mercedes | 37.634s |
21 | Devlin Defrancesco | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 51.177s |
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