Watts, Conway not ruling out pole

Neither driver had been among the pre-event favourites for victory but both are now upbeat about their chances of a decent result after comfortably making in into the top 10 on the provisional grid.

Watts, making his return to F3 with Team Midland Euroseries, was sixth fastest in first qualifying while Conway was just two places further adrift on his first visit to Macau - and was quickest overall in the first sector.

Speaking to autosport.com, Watts said that he still had plenty of room for improvement as he chases the kind of form that helped him land two British F3 victories in 2004.

"I would like to think that we had the pace to go for pole position, and we're just going to keep working hard," said Watts, who finished second in his only F3 outing this year.

"The TOM'S engine is very strong and the car is handling well, but I can definitely make it better. I also need to eek out a bit more from myself in the corners."

When asked what his realistic target was for Sunday's race, Watts said: "To win it. I've not been in a full-time drive this year and I want to use this weekend as a shop-window for next year. We should be in the fight for a podium finish and with a bit of luck who knows what can happen."

Conway was the leading rookie in qualifying and, although he ended up 1.6 seconds adrift of pole man Robert Kubica, his telemetry readings indicate that he already has the speed to go more than one second faster.

"Today was okay," said Conway, who has joined Manor Motorsport for the Macau event. "I just wanted to keep it on the track, learn the circuit and not crash - which is what everyone has been telling me for weeks.

"There is no reason why I cannot be on the pace of my team-mate Lucas di Grassi (who qualified second) and of course pole position would be nice. I'm definitely looking at getting inside the top five and have got no complaints at all."