Ticktum snatches late Macau GP pole from Ilott

Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum will start Saturday's qualifying race for the Macau Grand Prix from pole position after a late rally in the final stage of qualifying on Friday, producing two laps in the closing minutes of the session to beat rival Callum Ilott to top spot.

2017 Macau race winner Ticktum entered Q2 on provisional pole after edging out Ilott in the opening stage of qualifying on Thursday, but had dropped back to ninth on the grid with five minutes remaining in the session.

However, Ticktum was able to turn in a new fastest time of the session with two minutes remaining before then finding an additional two-tenths of a second on his final flying lap, giving him a pole time of 2m09.910s.

Ferrari youngster and GP3 title contender Ilott remained in the fight for pole throughout the session, overcoming Joel Eriksson's early benchmark in the final 10 minutes of the session.

However, his final shot at beating Ticktum was dashed after he came across a spun car at one of the tightest points of the circuit, meaning he had to settle for P2, four-tenths of a second off the pole time.

Renault youngster Sacha Fenestraz jumped up to third late on ahead of Eriksson, while Prema's charge was led by Guan Yu Zhou in fifth.

Jakes Hughes took sixth ahead of Marino Sato, while Ferrari Driver Academy member Marcus Armstrong could only finish eighth after going off at Melco, ending his qualifying early.

FIA European F3 champion Mick Schumacher finished down in ninth place, 1.4 seconds off Ticktum's pole time, while Ralf Aron completed the top 10.