FIA European Formula 3 champion Mick Schumacher laid down the gauntlet with the fastest time of the weekend so far in the second free practice session for the Suncity Group Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup.
As drivers continued their preparation for Friday afternoon’s crunch final qualifying session, Schumacher led the way with a lap late on, shortly before a red flag was brought out because Toshiki Oyu had crashed at Maternity Bend. Schumacher, who drives for the Theodore Racing by PREMA team, had kept a relatively low profile during the early stages of the session as his rivals battled for the top spot.
Motopark’s Joel Eriksson had been fastest for the first half of practice, and it was only after drivers returned to the track following some mid-session adjustments in the pits that the lap times began to tumble.
With nine minutes of the session to go, it was Motopark’s Jüri Vips who took the top spot, before five minutes later Carlin’s Callum Ilott continued to show his strong form with a best lap of 2:10.765 that briefly put him at the top of the standings. But just two minutes later Schumacher delivered a lap of 2:10.674 to snatch the top spot from Ilott by 0.091 seconds.
Vips’ earlier effort was good enough for the third fastest time, with Jake Hughes, who has returned to F3 for the Macau GP weekend, setting the fourth quickest time. Provisional pole position man Dan Ticktum ended up fifth ahead of Eriksson. Oyu was the only driver to hit the wall, having earlier run down the escape road at Lisboa Bend. Enaam Ahmed and Sacha Fenestraz also had incidents at the same corner, but did not hit anything.
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Results and images at: www.macau.grandprix.gov.mo
Contact: media.mgp@sport.gov.mo