Macau GP: Eriksson snatches pole from Norris by 0.024s

Motopark’s Joel Eriksson snatched pole position from Lando Norris for the Macau Grand Prix during a red-flag blighted qualifying session on Friday.

The BMW-backed Swede, who battled his British rival hard for the European F3 championship this year, made the most of a late switch to new tyres to grab the top spot by just 0.024 seconds during a head-to-head duel just past the halfway point.

The early stages of the session had been about drivers getting back in the zone with old tyres, and it was Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum who set the early pace.

But it was not until halfway through – following a brief red flag caused by Jehan Daruvala crashing in the mountain section – that Ticktum managed to deliver a lap quicker than Norris’s provisional pole time.

Following a second red flag period, brought out when Sergio Sette Camara spun into the wall at Fisherman’s Bend, a number of drivers took the opportunity to switch to new rubber.

The performance step opened the door for McLaren junior Norris to produce his best lap of the weekend so far, as he moved to the top of the timesheets with a lap of 2m10.744s with 17 minutes remaining.

But five minutes later, Eriksson grabbed the top spot and Norris was unable to respond, with the best having been taken from his tyres.

A third red flag came out with five minutes remaining when Guan Yu Zhou crashed out spectacularly, and the restart delivered a single lap shoot-out for a number of front runners on new rubber.

And it was Callum Ilott who timed his run perfectly to secure third place - just 0.090 seconds behind Eriksson – moments before a final red flag came out after Yuhi Sekiguchi crashed at the final corner.

Maximilian Gunther ended up fourth-quickest, ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg, Ticktum and Mick Schumacher.

Despite his late crash, Sekiguchi was eighth, ahead of Sette Camara and Zhou.

Qualifying results:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Delay
1	Joel Eriksson	Motopark	2'10.720
2	Lando Norris	Carlin	2'10.744	0.024
3	Callum Ilott	Theodore Racing by Prema	2'10.810	0.090
4	Maximilian Gunther	Theodore Racing by Prema	2'11.156	0.436
5	Ferdinand Habsburg	Carlin	2'11.245	0.525
6	Dan Ticktum	Motopark	2'11.437	0.717
7	Mick Schumacher	Theodore Racing by Prema	2'11.483	0.763
8	Yuhi Sekiguchi	B-Max Racing Team	2'11.559	0.839
9	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	2'11.569	0.849
10	Guan Yu Zhou	Theodore Racing by Prema	2'11.781	1.061
11	Sacha Fenestraz	Carlin	2'11.880	1.160
12	Tadasuke Makino	Motopark	2'11.929	1.209
13	Pedro Piquet	Van Amersfoort Racing	2'12.050	1.330
14	Devlin Defrancesco	Carlin	2'12.349	1.629
15	Marino Sato	Motopark	2'12.558	1.838
16	Kenta Yamashita	B-Max Racing Team	2'12.563	1.843
17	Ralf Aron	Van Amersfoort Racing	2'12.644	1.924
18	Sho Tsuboi	TOM'S	2'13.604	2.884
19	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	2'13.710	2.990
20	Ritomo Miyata	TOM'S	2'13.721	3.001
21	Alex Palou	ThreeBond Racing	2'13.863	3.143