F3: Rosenqvist denies Juncadella pole in Macau

Felix Rosenqvist will start the qualification race for Formula 3's Macau Grand Prix from pole position after securing the fastest time in the second qualifying session.

European champion Rosenqvist lowered his overnight provisional pole mark on his first flying lap, but was then artificially bumped off the top spot by Charles Leclerc, who had begun the session on new tires while Rosenqvist was on the same set as he started the meeting.

Once onto a new set of Yokohamas, Rosenqvist's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes slashed seven tenths off Leclerc's temporary best.

With several minutes remaining, Fortec Motorsport driver Daniel Juncadella got very close to Rosenqvist's time, forcing the Swede to drag another a couple of tenths out of his car with four minutes remaining. That was moments before Antonio Giovinazzi crashed at the left-hander before Maternity Bend, forcing a red flag and an early end to the session.

Leclerc, on his second set of new rubber, brought himself to a tenth away from Juncadella's lap, the Van Amersfoort Racing rookie taking third on the grid as the top driver not to have previously won the Macau GP.

"These two guys gave me quite a lot of push today," said Rosenqvist. "When they told me on the radio Dani was more or less on the same lap time as me, I had to really put an extra gear in and risk a lot to do that 10.4 lap. Well done to Dani's guys, but I'm very happy with that."

Juncadella delighted the Fortec team, which has had a disastrous 2015 F3 season, using six new tires through the session to keep up the squad's strong Macau record. He set the quickest time in the middle Mountain sector.

Giovinazzi ended up fourth in his mangled Carlin car, topping free practice pacesetter Markus Pommer – the Motopark driver spent much of the session in the top three before dropping to fifth.

Sam MacLeod and Team West-Tec kept up their strong weekend form by taking sixth, over four tenths adrift of the leading quintet, while Sergio Sette Camara recovered from various setbacks earlier in the weekend to take seventh in his Motopark machine.

Sette Camara was at the head of a very close foursome, besting T-Sport's Arjun Maini, Alessio Lorandi (VAR) and Lance Stroll (Prema) as they filled out the top 10.

Callum Ilott, who was on the front row overnight, crashed at the exit of San Francisco Bend on his first flying lap to cause a red flag before anyone had even set a laptime. His Thursday time is good for only 18th on the grid.

There was another dramatic incident: the traditional Macau Melco Hairpin traffic jam. Gustavo Menezes had gone off at Moorish and was returning to the pits, but couldn't get enough lock and understeered into the barriers. Lorandi ran into the back of him and in turn one of the Signature cars bumped the back of the Italian.

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Originally on Autosport.com