Hamilton takes top spot in Macau qualifying race.

Lewis Hamilton continued to set himself up as favourite to win this year's 51st Macau F3 Grand Prix by sealing pole position for the main event with victory in the new-for-2004 qualifying race.

Starting from second on the grid, having set the pace in Thursday's first timed session, the Manor Motorsport-mounted Briton led from lights to flag, after leaping past team-mate Robert Kubica on the opening lap. Although Kubica made marginally the better start from pole position, Hamilton tucked in under his team-mate's rear wing, before making his move at the quick Mandarin bend when the Pole lifted off.

"It was very scary," Hamilton said of his move, "Robert was covering the inside as I got the tow, so I pulled to the left to pass him. I wasn't quite close enough to get past him - and we could not go through side-by-side - so I hoped to scare him and make him lift, which he did!"

Kubica's hopes of making an instant response were dashed when the safety car appeared, having been summoned to clear the wreckage of a series of start-line incidents. Richard Antinucci, who had won the Korean leg of last year's Far East double-header, had made a slow getaway from third place on the grid and was clouted from behind by Nelson Piquet Jr, but there was a bigger incident further back in the pack.

Eric Salignon, only recently recovered from the road accident that ruled him out of the F3 Euroseries finale, slammed into the back of the stalled Kazuki Nakajima before spearing off into the barrier, while 'local' favourites Marchy Lee, Ho Pin Tung and Rodolfo Avila were also caught up in the shunt. Lee, stepping up to F3 after previous Macau success in Formula Renault, was forced to the right to avoid Nakajima's stranded car, but Tung, who had started directly behind the Meritus driver, was unable to avoid the evasive manoeuvre and the two clashed, sending Tung into the air and Lee in to the wall.

"I knew from my experience in Macau that the lights would go out quite quickly, and I made a really good start, but this meant I came up on the accident really quickly," Lee recalled, "The only way I could go was to the right and, unfortunately, Ho-Pin hit me."

The safety car remained out until the start of lap five, as Salignon needed assistance to get out of the car, presenting Piquet's team with a slim chance of returning the Brazilian to the track after he had limped back to the pits for repairs. However, the Piquet Sports team, making its Macau debut, was always fighting against time to replace the entire front left corner, and eventually decided against trying to rejoin the fray.

"I had a clear strategy going into this weekend," the Brazilian British F3 champion said, "Macau is a really tricky circuit, probably one of the most difficult in the world and it's so easy to make a mistake and crash, which ruins your whole weekend. Unfortunately, the guy in front of me stalled on the grid and I just had nowhere to go."

Hamilton made a brilliant getaway as soon as the race restarted, pulling clear of the field. Behind him, Kubica was immediately under pressure from Nico Rosberg, again losing a position into Mandarin. With the other Manor driver looking unstoppable at the front, Rosberg was happy to settle for second, guaranteeing himself a front-row start for Sunday's 15-lap main race, but the frustration was continuing for Kubica, who lost third place to Alexandre Premat at Lisboa on lap six.

The Pole managed to hold to fourth over the final four laps, but not before he had come under concerted attack from Euroseries champion Jamie Green. Behind the Briton, last year's pole man Fabio Carbone finished sixth, ahead of Loic Duval, Lucas di Grassi, James Rossiter and Danny Watts. Rossiter, running with the French Signature team for the first time, had started back in 17th place, but took full advantage of the chaos around him to pick up eight places and put himself in with a chance of a podium on Sunday.

Another British F3 frontrunner, Adam Carroll, was eleventh, ahead of Franck Perera and the best of the Japanese drivers, Katsuyuki Hiranaka, while the second of the Menu Motorsport drivers, late call-up Rob Austin, took 14th.