Félix da Costa best-placed Volkswagen driver in Macau qualifying race
Team-mate Jordan King also improved on his position from qualifying, working his way up into seventh place.
Antonio Felix da Costa
XPB Images
Last year’s winner António Félix da Costa (P) is well-placed going into Sunday’s race following a fine performance in the qualifying race ahead of the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix. The Carlin driver, “powered by Volkswagen”, moved up a place in Saturday’s eventful ten-lap sprint, meaning he will start Sunday’s traditional highlight of the season in the former Portuguese colony from fourth place on the grid.
Team-mate Jordan King (GB) also improved on his position from qualifying, working his way up into seventh place. However, Carlos Sainz Jr. (E) produced an even greater comeback. The son of two-time World Rally Champion and “Dakar” winner Carlos Sainz, whose qualifying session on Friday was hampered by an electric fault on his Dallara F312, finished ninth to complete the Volkswagen trio in the top ten. Jazeman Jaafar (MAL) ended the qualifying race in twelfth, one place ahead of Nicolas Latifi (CDN). Harry Tincknell (GB), however, did not finish the race. The young Brit collided with a stationary car at the start and was forced to retire.Michael Schumacher (D) once triumphed with Volkswagen at the wild pursuit through the urban canyons of Macau, and defending champion António Félix da Costa, rising star Carlos Sainz Jr. and Harry Tincknell are now charged with continuing the success story for the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer. The street race, which takes place in the gambling paradise of Macau is seen as the ‘unofficial World Championship’ of Formula 3.
António Félix da Costa, defending champion: “It was a good effort today. I was pleased to have made my way up to third, but some of the other guys had a bit of an advantage over me, as they were on newer tyres. However, things are looking good for tomorrow. We can now sit down together, look at the data and get ready to race again.”
Jordan King: “I’m happy with the race today, but I’m a little gutted to not have overtaken Alexander Sims. I was close to him for most of the race, but it’s just so difficult to overtake that I didn’t get a chance to make a move. Despite this, it was a good race for me and I am now looking forward to starting from seventh tomorrow and seeing what we can do.”
Volkswagen Motorsport
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments