Antonio Felix da Costa has set himself up for a fitting end to his remarkable 2012 campaign by winning the qualification race at the Macau Grand Prix.
The Portuguese ace led all ten laps of the race after passing polesitter Alex Lynn at the start. Felix Rosenqvist made a quicker start from third on the grid to move into the lead, but Felix da Costa took the place at Lisboa. Felix da Costa maintained his lead over Rosenqvist for the rest of the race, taking the checkered flag 1.5 seconds ahead of the Swede to secure his pole position for the main event.
After his lost ground at the start, Lynn settled into third place and finished two seconds behind Rosenqvist, with Carlos Sainz Jr finishing in fourth place. Last year’s Macau winner and new European champion Daniel Juncadella won his battle with Harry Tincknell for fifth before going on to challenge fellow Spaniard Sainz.
Macau rookie Pascal Wehrlein finished seventh, while Hannes van Asseldonk overtook Felipe Nasr for eighth on the last lap. Alexander Sims made up lost ground from qualifying 2 to complete the top ten ahead of Raffaele Marciello and British F3 champion Jack Harvey.
There were four casualties of the notorious street circuit who failed to finish the race, including Felix Serralles.
The 15 lap Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix takes place at 07:30 GMT on Sunday.