Deligny outwits before Slater outpaces in Macau GP qualifying duel

Photo: Macau GP Organizing Committee

Prema’s Freddie Slater stole top spot away from R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny at the end of the Macau Grand Prix’s first qualifying session.

Deligny was first out of the pits and went fastest as he and his team-mates set banker laps early in the 40-minute session.

A 2m19.990s comfortably put Deligny on top, and he improved to 2m17.9s next time by to lead Jin Nakamura by 0.767 seconds.

KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport’s Theophile Nael slashed his advantage to 0.08s on his first flying lap, with PHM Racing’s Mattia Colnaghi and Nael’s team-mate Mari Boya also getting within 0.5s of Deligny nine minutes in.

Deligny slid through the last corner but avoided crashing next time by, as team-mates Matteo De Palo and Nakamura got within 0.014s and 0.181s of him to sit second and fourth. A minute later they all sat far from the top, as Slater posted a 2m16.887s.

Colnaghi improved to 2m17.94s in fourth after 11 minutes, then ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato lapped a second off Slater’s time. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kiyoshi Umegaki went off at Lisboa, but it proved non-disruptive.

De Palo was next to reduce Slater’s advantage, down to 0.705s, then Nael came 0.015s shy of beating him. Boya was 0.133s off in third just before Slater grew his gap again to 0.581s.

Boya brought it back down to 0.398s, before yellow flags waved at Lisboa caused by PHM’s Enzo Yeh. Kato got within 0.565s of Slater in third after that, and the pacesetter pitted. De Palo lapped 0.33s off his benchmark, but was soon fourth as Deligny set a 2m16.297s to lead Nael by 0.044s. Another improvement from Boya put him fourth, 0.29s off, before he pitted too.

The next change in the top five came with 10 minutes to go, as Slater went quickest by 0.165s. Just after, Evans GP’s Hiyu Yamakoshi had a red flag-causing crash at Lisboa and Deligny went off there too.

A few minutes later Q1 restarted, and Deligny’s advantageous pit position proved critical as two seconds after he bettered Slater by 0.116s there were red flags due to Trident’s Reza Seewooruthun crashing. Evans GP’s Charlie Wurz got stuck at turn 19 on his way back to the pits, meaning a lengthy stoppage before green flags waved with just over five minutes to go.

Deligny bunched up the field for most of the outlap, cannily leaving only himself and De Palo time for two flying laps.

But De Palo then pitted and Deligny failed to improve. The chequered flag waved, and Boya got within 0.013s of Deligny.

Slater did even better, going fastest by 0.308s with purple sectors two and three. Nael lapped 0.019s off Boya to sit fourth, and Deligny was set for another non-improvement before Umegaki crashed and brought out yellow flags that scuppered his plan regardless.

Qualifying results