F3: Pommer tops Friday practice in Macau

Markus Pommer topped free practice on the second day of the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix. The 2014 German F3 champion took his Motopark Dallara-Volkswagen around the Guia circuit seven tenths of a second quicker than Thursday's provisional pole position time to affirm his status as a dark horse for the event.

"The car was good yesterday," said Pommer, who like the rest of the leading runners used his old tyres from Thursday's running, "but qualifying was not 100 percent perfect. We struggled a little bit with setup, but we've fixed that - I built my rhythm this morning and it was nearly perfect."

Pommer ended the session three tenths faster than overnight polesitter Felix Rosenqvist. The European series champion was happy with progress after a very long run at the start of the session in his Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc, who lost time in traffic in qualifying on Thursday, also moved into the picture for the Van Amersfoort Racing team with third fastest, while Antonio Giovinazzi hustled his Carlin machine to fourth best, the last driver within a second of Pommer.

Another Prema runner, Lance Stroll, topped the Fortec Motorsport car of Daniel Juncadella to fifth, with Jake Dennis finally getting into a rhythm after Thursday's tribulations to take seventh.

Stroll made contact with the barriers shortly before the session's only stoppage, but was able to return to the track as soon as running resumed.

Mikkel Jensen consolidated his position among the top 10 this weekend for eighth fastest in his Mucke Motorsport car, with the top 10 rounded out by the two Brits who surprised in Thursday qualifying: Sam MacLeod (Team West-Tec) and Callum Ilott (Carlin).

The red flag came with 14 minutes remaining, caused when Dorian Boccolacci crashed into the wall at San Francisco Bend. Martin Cao was another crasher, although he managed to crab his deranged Fortec car back to the pits.

Originally on Autosport.com