Asian Motor Sports

Kamui Kobayashi took pole position for the Macau Grand Prix in a rain-affected and incident-filled qualifying session on Friday - before smashing his car against the barriers in the final seconds.

The Japanese ASM driver moved to the top of the timesheets with 14 minutes of qualifying remaining and, with light rain falling over the track, his rivals were unable to respond to his best effort.

But that did not stop Kobayashi from trying to go better and in his efforts he swiped the barriers at the Esses - badly damaging the left hand side of his car.

Fellow Japanese racer Kohei Hirate set the second fastest time for Manor Motorsport, with Signature’s Romain Grosjean taking third place.

Marko Asmer, who had been on provisional pole after Thursday’s first session, was fourth fastest, with Richard Antinucci setting the fifth best time - although he is due to lose his fastest qualifying time for not slowing for yellow flags in practice on Thursday.

Formula Three Euroseries champion Paul di Resta escaped a brush with the tyre barrier at R Bend to set the sixth quickest time, ahead of Roberto Streit.

British F3 champion Mike Conway’s hopes of taking pole position were dashed early in the session when he smashed into the barriers at the final corner on a quick lap.

After getting sideways, his left rear wheel swiped the end of the tyre barrier and broke away as it shattered his rear suspension. He pulled to a halt after avoiding a spin, with the wheel trailing behind him. The Raikkonen-Robertson Racing driver will start 12th, having been one of the favourites for the top spot.

Japanese F3 champion Adrian Sutil was another pre-event favourite in the wars. He crashed at Police Bend in the restarted session and put himself out of contention. The German will line up 15th.

A third red flag was caused when American Charlie Kimball crashed at R-Bend and badly damaged the left hand side of his car. (Source)

Pos Driver Car Time Laps
1. Kamui Kobayashi Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:13.449 14
2. Kohei Hirate Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:13.566 + 0.117 13
3. Romain Grosjean Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:13.930 + 0.481 11
4. Richard Antinucci Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:14.105 + 0.656 15
5. Paul Di Resta Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:14.175 + 0.726 14
6. Robert Streit Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:14.217 + 0.768 15
7. Kazuki Nakajima Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:14.231 + 0.782 14
8. Charlie Kimball Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:14.379 + 0.930 8
9. Sebastian Vettel Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:14.390 + 0.941 15
10. Kodai Tsukakoshi Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:14.553 + 1.104 15
11. Mike Conway Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:14.578 + 1.129 5
12. Fabio Carbone Dallara Nissan 2:14.853 + 1.404 16
13. Maro Engel Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:14.857 + 1.408 16
14. Marko Asmer Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:15.108 + 1.659 13
15. Adrian Sutil Dallara Toyota-TOM’S 2:15.159 + 1.710 5
16. Stephen Jelley Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:15.490 + 2.041 18
17. Sebastien Buemi Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:15.614 + 2.165 15
18. Daisuke Ikeda Dallara Toyota-TOM’S 2:15.786 + 2.337 15
19. James Jakes Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:16.010 + 2.561 12
20. Jonathan Kennard Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:16.644 + 3.195 16
21. Oliver Jarvis Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:16.945 + 3.496 16
22. Yelmer Buurman Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:17.091 + 3.642 15
23. Maximo Cortes Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:17.191 + 3.742 16
24. Roldan Rodriguez Dallara Mercedes-HWA 2:17.286 + 3.837 16
25. Mauro Massironi Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:18.494 + 5.045 16
26. James Winslow Dallara Toyota-TOM’S 2:18.957 + 5.508 12
27. Rodolfo Avila Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:19.016 + 5.567 10
28. Michael Ho Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:20.590 + 7.141 16
29. Cheong Lou Meng Dallara Honda-Mugen NB 2:25.917 + 12.468 11
30. Jo Merszei Dallara Toyota-Tom’s 2:26.326 + 12.877 9
31. Kazuya Oshima Dallara Toyota-TOM’S No time
32. Lei Kit Meng Dallara Opel-Spiess No time