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Macau GP: 2017 winner Ticktum beats Eriksson in qualification race

McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Dan Ticktum took victory in the qualification race to earn himself pole position for the Macau Grand Prix

Red Bull Junior Ticktum passed Callum Ilott for the lead on the second lap, and from then on was untroubled - apart from having to avoid a stray dog.

Ilott managed to slipstream his way past poleman Ticktum around the outside of the Mandarin kink to take the lead after the start, and held on despite an oversteery moment at Lisboa bend that flicked his left-rear tyre against the barrier.

Ticktum stayed right on Ilott's tail and was able to pass the Ferrari junior around the outside of Lisboa, and his Motopark Dallara-Volkswagen was already 1.341 seconds in front by the end of lap two.

On the third lap, Ticktum encountered the dog on the racing line at Dona Maria, flicking wide to avoid it, before the safety car was called out while the dog was retrieved.

Ticktum made a corker of a restart, and was 0.863s in front of Ilott's Carlin car as they crossed the start/finish line.

Joel Eriksson had passed Sacha Fenestraz for third on the drag down to Lisboa after the start, but got boxed in, allowing Renault Formula 1 junior Fenestraz to repass at San Francisco Bend.

At the restart, BMW DTM racer Eriksson got ahead of Fenestraz at Mandarin, and also got close to slipstreaming past Ilott too.

One lap later Eriksson squeezed inside Ilott on the run down to Lisboa, the Motopark-run Swede making minor contact with the barrier as he slipped through the tiny gap.

Eriksson was 1.675s adrift of Ticktum at the end of that lap, with four to go, but could not prevent Ticktum extending the gap to 2.247s as they started the final tour.

Ticktum then took it easy on the last lap to lead Eriksson in a Motopark one-two by 1.563s, with Ilott and Fenestraz - who tried a move on his Carlin team-mate at Lisboa on the penultimate lap - next up.

Guan Yu Zhou ran a solid fifth for almost the entire race in his Prema Powerteam car from Hitech GP man Jake Hughes, only for the Chinese Ferrari junior to crash at the Solitude Esses on the final lap.

Hughes therefore took fifth from Prema's F3 European champion Mick Schumacher.

From 14th on the grid, Motopark's new Red Bull junior Juri Vips made superb progress - he passed Prema's Marcus Armstrong after the Mandarin kink with three laps to go to win the battle of the Macau GP debutants and take seventh position.

Two more Prema cars rounded out the top 10, with Ralf Aron leading home Robert Shwartzman, who passed Marino Sato on the final lap.

The incidents that did not involve dogs were cleared up without need for the safety car.

Apart from Zhou's shunt, Sena Sakaguchi crashed at Maternity Bend on the opening lap, Ritomo Miyata hit the wall at Lisboa on lap seven, and Frederik Vesti also came to grief at Lisboa.

Result - 10 laps

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Dan Ticktum Motopark Academy Dallara/Volkswagen 23m41.034s
2 Joel Eriksson Motopark Academy Dallara/Volkswagen 1.563s
3 Callum Ilott Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 3.165s
4 Sacha Fenestraz Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 3.948s
5 Jake Hughes Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 11.098s
6 Mick Schumacher SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Dallara/Mercedes 11.878s
7 Juri Vips Motopark Academy Dallara/Volkswagen 12.518s
8 Marcus Armstrong SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Dallara/Mercedes 13.713s
9 Ralf Aron SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Dallara/Mercedes 14.199s
10 Robert Shwartzman SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Dallara/Mercedes 16.535s
11 Marino Sato Motopark Academy Dallara/Volkswagen 18.374s
12 Alex Palou B-MAX Racing Team Dallara/Volkswagen 19.602s
13 Ferdinand Habsburg Motopark Academy Dallara/Volkswagen 20.235s
14 Yuhi Sekiguchi B-MAX Racing Team Dallara/Volkswagen 21.445s
15 Enaam Ahmed Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 22.161s
16 Sho Tsuboi TOM'S Dallara/Toyota 24.244s
17 Jehan Daruvala Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen 24.763s
18 Charles Leong Hitech GP Dallara/Mercedes 27.513s
19 Sophia Florsch Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 29.159s
20 Keyvan Andres Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes 30.851s
21 Toshiki Oyu Toda Racing Dallara/Toda 32.442s
22 Ukyo Sasahara ThreeBond Racing Dallara/Tomei 33.995s
23 Dragon B-MAX Racing Team Dallara/Volkswagen 1m58.193s
24 Guanyu Zhou SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Dallara/Mercedes 1 Lap
- Frederik Vesti Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara/Mercedes Retirement
- Ritomo Miyata TOM'S Dallara/Toyota Retirement
- Yoshiaki Katayama Carlin Dallara/Volkswagen Retirement
- Sena Sakaguchi Toda Racing Dallara/Toda Retirement

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