F3: Rosenqvist wins Macau qualifier after Giovinazzi penalty

Felix Rosenqvist took the honors in the Macau Grand Prix qualification race after on-the-road winner Antonio Giovinazzi was penalized for a first-lap collision.

From fourth on the grid, Giovinazzi passed Charles Leclerc for third after the Mandarin kink, and then tried a move on front-row starter Daniel Juncadella at Lisboa. The two cars got around the corner and accelerated toward San Francisco Bend, but they collided, sending Juncadella into the inside barriers, broadside across the track.

Inevitably, Juncadella was hit, with Ryan Tveter, running side by side with Jake Dennis after a good start, having nowhere to go. He in turn was hit by Callum Ilott, who cut and bruised his hand, while Alexander Albon was also eliminated.

The safety car emerged for one lap, and at the restart Giovinazzi drafted past Rosenqvist on the outside into Lisboa to take the lead, despite a wobbly moment as he rounded the corner.

From then on, the Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen extended an advantage, before Rosenqvist's Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes began to claw back the gap. Rosenqvist was even able to jink out of the slipstream on the run to Lisboa on the final lap, but he then made a mistake at the Melco hairpin after overadjusting his brake bias to compensate for locking brakes. He only just held on to what became victory from Leclerc, whose Van Amersfoort Racing car shadowed the 2014 Macau GP winner across the line.

"I had a very good start but never expected to lead all the way down to Lisboa," said Rosenqvist. "Then when the safety car came I knew it would be difficult to keep Antonio behind – he got me quite easily.

"I was having a lot of sliding from the car, but then I picked up the pace, although I probably would have needed another couple of laps to catch him."

From 13th on the grid, Alexander Sims was sixth after the accident, then passed Sergio Sette Camara and Sam MacLeod after the safety car to take what would become a podium for the Double R Racing team, after briefly being the fastest driver on the track.

MacLeod took fourth in the results for Team West-Tec, although Markus Pommer was looming in the closing stages after passing Motopark teammate Sette Camara.

Mucke Motorsport's Santino Ferrucci got ahead of the second VAR car of Alessio Lorandi for what would be seventh with two laps remaining.

Ferrucci had earlier passed Arjun Maini, who took ninth in his T-Sport machine, while Giovinazzi's penalty – 20 seconds in lieu of a drive-through – dropped him to 10th.

Various other cars sustained damage in the first-lap shunt, with Mikkel Jensen, Yu Kanamaru, Yuhi Sekiguchi and Andy Chang all pitting for repairs. Peter Li crashed on his own at Police after the restart.

RESULTS - 10 LAPS:

Originally on Autosport.com