Macau Grand Prix 2018 results: Dan Ticktum on provisional pole for Formula Three qualification race
- Mick Schumacher finishes third after topping F3 free practice
- Crashes see motorcycle practice session called off after 15 minutes
Motopark driver Dan Ticktum put himself on provisional pole for Saturday’s Macau Grand Prix qualification race after a series of red flags in a dramatic first qualifying session on Thursday.
Red Bull junior Ticktum’s lap of two minutes, 11 seconds was 0.132 seconds quicker than Ferrari protégé Callum Ilott of Carlin F3, as he bids for back-to-back wins in Macau.
With rain forecast for Friday, the front row for Saturday could already be set.
Formula Three champion Mick Schumacher had to settle for third for Prema Powerteam, after finishing top of the earlier free practice session.
“The lap was good, I’m not denying that, but it can always be better – I’m not disappointed, but I’m not over the moon either,” Ticktum said.
“There are quite a few improvements to come for the car and the driver, and I need to be doing better to be honest.”
Hitech GP’s Jake Hughes moved up to fourth just before the second red flag, which like the first was caused by a Hitech driver crashing at Police.
Charles Leong hit the wall after 14 minutes before Enaam Ahmed did the same with six minutes left. The final stoppage then came when Toda Racing’s Sena Sakaguchi shunted at R Bend.
Earlier, Rob Huff smashed the TCR record at the Guia Circuit to come out on top in World Touring Car Cup practice ahead of the weekend’s race.
The nine-time winner set a time of two minutes 29.766 seconds with his Sebastien Loeb Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI in the second free practice session on Thursday.
Yann Ehrlacher was 0.533s back in his Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic.
Huff’s time was 1.7s faster than his then-record time in the 2015 TCR International Series finale, which had already been beaten in FP1 on Thursday by Jean-Karl Vernay (2m31.328s) of WRT Audi.
Vernay had topped Esteban Guerrieri of Munich Motorsport Honda by 0.575s in FP1, with Huff third. Guerrieri finished sixth after FP2, 0.805s back, ahead of World Touring Car champion Thed Bjork.
Two-time winner Peter Hickman is on provisional for the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix after Thursday’s first qualifying session.
Hickman’s time of 2:25:429 on his Aspire-Ho by Bathams Racing BMW was enough for the English rider, edging teammate Michael Rutter, who was riding the Honda RC213V-S, by just under a second,
Danny Webb was 1.6s back on the Penz BMW with Martin Jessopp fourth on the PBM Ducati.
Thursday’s earlier free practice session lasted just 15 minutes, with two crashes bringing out red flags. Newcomer Andrew Dudgeon had came off his bike before Raul Torres Martinez crashed at Mandarin, with his bike bursting into flames.
Last year’s motorcycle race was called off when British rider Daniel Hegarty died after hitting a barrier at the notorious Fishermen’s Bend during the sixth of 12 scheduled laps.
