F3 | Rosenqvist in the lead, ‘pushing, but not risking a crash’

Felix Rosenqvist

SJM Theodore Racing’s Swedish racer Felix Rosenqvist nabbed yesterday’s provisional pole position for the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix, after dominating the first qualifying session.
After a first practice session where Carlin’s Antonio Giovinazzi took the lead, Rosenqvist moved to the top of the timesheets despite good times achieved by both Callum Ilott and Giovinazzi, both less than one second away from the top.
Young Briton Ilott stayed second-best in the qualifying session,  his confidence unaffected by the morning’s crash at the Lisboa bend.
At the end of the session, Rosenqvist commented, “I was still learning how the Prema car works around every lap in Macau and then I reached a point where I moved up a step in my driving abilities of the car. That’s what I was really looking for, and now I feel more confident and we’re looking good. It’s a good start to the weekend and I didn’t use any new tyres, so we’re good on strategy too. On my quick lap I was pushing, but not risking a crash – it was a good lap.”
Ilott appeared delighted with his performance, especially after having lost an important amount of track-running time in the morning session after his crash.
“It was a good result,” said the Briton. “After this morning I thought we were going to struggle, but I just stayed out there and kept improving. I could see my board each lap saying P5, P4, P3, and then P2, so I’m pretty happy.”