Posted on November 14, 2008 by F1Wolf

Edoardo Mortara fastest in Macau on Thursday

The 55th Macau GP begun on Thursday with the first practice and qualifying sessions. The fastest times in both Formula 3 session went to Italian driver Edoardo Mortara (Signature Plus), the runner up in 2008 Formula 2 Euroseries championship. Carlo van Dam, Roberto Streit and Roger van der Zande were all near the top in both sessions.

Macau is the track where it impossible not to crash and there were of these on Thursday. In the first practice Mika Maki crashed heavily at Fishermen’s Bend, Kazuya Oshima and Walter Grubmuller went off at Maternity Bend.

In the first qualifying Edoardo Mortara hit the trouble when he crashed into Masaki Matsushita’s stranded car with only a minute to go. Earlier in the same session James Jakes and Nicoal de Marco crashed at the R-Bend (in separate incidents).

Thursday times:

Practice 1:

1. Edoardo MORTARA – Signature Plus – 2:14.333
2. Renger van der ZANDE – Prema Powerteam + 0.748
3. Roberto STREIT – Raikkonen-Robertson Racing + 1.121
4. Carlo van DAM – Tom’s Team + 1.412
5. James JAKES – ART Grand Prix + 1.447
6. Stefano COLETTI – Prema Powerteam +2.560
7. Jaime ALGUERSUARI – Carlin Motorsport +2.832
8. Roberto MERHI – Hitech Racing + 2.881
9. Jon LANCASTER – Manor Motorsport + 3.136
10. Sam BIRD – Manor Motorsport + 3.356
11. James WINSLOW – Ombra Racing + 3.539
12. Max CHILTON – Hitech Racing + 3.599
13. Kei COZZOLINO – Now Motor Sports + 3.901
14. Walter GRUBMULLER – Hitech Racing + 4.099
15. Jules BIANCHI – ART Grand Prix + 4.131
16. Atte MUSTONEN – Raikkonen-Robertson Racing + 4.175
17. CHENG Cong Fu – Signature Plus + 4.260
18. Oliver TURVEY – Carlin Motorsport + 4.763
19. Michael HO – Raikkonen-Robertson Racing + 4.774
20. Brendon HARTLEY – Carlin Motorsport + 5.150
21. Daniel CAMPOS-HULL – HBR Motorsport + 5.175
22. Keisuke KUNIMOTO – Tom’s Team + 5.625
23. Kazuya OSHIMA – Manor Motorsport + 5.978
24. Marcus ERICSSON – Carlin Motorsport + 6.005
25. Laurens VANTHOOR – RC Motorsport + 6.110
26. Mika MAKI – Signature Plus + 6.142
27. Koki SAGA – Le Beausset Motorsports + 6.506
28. Basil SHAABAN – HBR Motorsport + 6.930
29. Nicola de MARCO – RC Motorsport + 7.193
30. Massaki MATSUSHITA – PTRS by Ombra + 10.312

Qualifying 1:

1. Edoardo MORTARA – Signature Plus – 2:12.416
2. Carlo van DAM – Tom’s Team + 0.356
3. Roberto STREIT – Raikkonen-Robertson Racing + 0.737
4. Brendon HARTLEY – Carlin Motorsport + 0.932
5. Renger van der ZANDE – Prema Powerteam + 1.191
6. Jaime ALGUERSUARI – Carlin Motorsport + 1.253
7. Sam BIRD – Manor Motorsport + 1.306
8. Jules BIANCHI – ART Grand Prix + 1.424
9. Oliver TURVEY – Carlin Motorsport + 1.792
10. James JAKES – ART Grand Prix + 2.043
11. Marcus ERICSSON – Carlin Motorsport + 2.248
12. Keisuke KUNIMOTO – Tom’s Team + 2.280
13. Kei COZZOLINO – Now Motor Sports + 2.363
14. Stefano COLETTI – Prema Powerteam + 2.372
15. Max CHILTON – Hitech Racing + 2.591
16. Roberto MERHI – Hitech Racing + 3.158
17. James WINSLOW – Ombra Racing + 3.222
18. Walter GRUBMULLER – Hitech Racing + 3.315
19. Kazuya OSHIMA – Manor Motorsport + 3.569
20. Daniel CAMPOS-HULL – HBR Motorsport + 3.929
21. Laurens VANTHOOR – RC Motorsport + 4.048
22. Atte MUSTONEN – Raikkonen-Robertson Racing + 4.259
23. Basil SHAABAN – HBR Motorsport + 4.523
24. CHENG Cong Fu – Signature Plus + 4.634
25. Jon LANCASTER – Manor Motorsport + 5.074
26. Massaki MATSUSHITA – PTRS by Ombra + 5.643
27. Michael HO – Raikkonen-Robertson Racing + 5.999
28. Nicola de MARCO – RC Motorsport + 6.252