The top four drivers in the FIA European F3 Championship have claimed the top four places in qualifying for the FIA F3 World Cup at Macau

Swede Joel Eriksson (Motorpark with VEB Dallara VW), second in the 2017 European title, outpaced his rival by just 0.024sc to claim pole for the 10 lap qualifying race.

Eriksson laid down a time of 2m10.720s from Norris (Carlin Dallara VW) 2m10.744s

Norris believed two small mistakes on his flying lap cost him the deficit.

Callum Ilott (SJM Theodore Racing by Prema) claimed third on the last flying lap of the session with a 2m10.810s from teammate Maximillian Gunther on 2m11.245s.

Mick Schumacher, another SJM Theodore Racing by Prema driver was the fastest Macau debutante in seventh position on 2m11.483s.

Six drivers held fastest time in a session which saw laps tumble for the first time into the 2m10s barrier.

Norris was the first to break into the 2m10s and when Eriksson went fastest it seemed the session was set up for a massive fight to the end.

But after a red flag five minutes from the scheduled finish of the session, Norris stepped from his car and did not contest the last two flying laps.

“It was a bit of a risk," he said.

“My tyres had gone off and I was satisfied with second.

“But it could have been that others challenged too and put me further back – so I was lucky that did not happen.”

Four red flags interrupted and finally halted the electrifying qualifying session as Jehan Daruvala (Carlin Dallara VW), Sergio Sette Camara (Motopark with VEB Dallara VW), Guanyu Zhou (SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Dallara Mercedes0 and finally Yuhi Sekiguchi (B-Max Racing Dallara VW) were eliminated in crashes with the wall.

Drivers face a 10 lap qualifying race followed by the FIA F3 World Cup over 15 laps on Sunday.

Sergio Sette Camara was one of three team mates to claim the first three places in a remarkably accident free session.

Camara set a fastest time of 2min 14.80secs, ahead of team mates Joel Eriksson, 2min14.916secs and Daniel Ticktum,2min14.955secs.

The trio were the only ones to break the 2min15sec barrier.

On a road circuit that had not yet rubbered-in, all were well above last year’s first session fastest time of 2min13.099.

The 40-minute session was interrupted only in the last minute by the crash of Japanese driver Ryuji Kumita (B-Max Racing Dallara VW).

Kumita, the oldest driver in the race, was uninjured and the car was easily recovered.

The Motopark team was prominent in the session from the start.

Eriksson laid down the first sub 2min20second marker and remained at the top of the leader board until six minutes to the chequered flag when Sette Camara took over.

Pedro Piquet (VAR Dallara Mercedes) was fourth fastest on 2min 15.085secs, ahead of a close bunched Ferdinand Habsurbg (Carlin), Guanyu Zhou ( SJM Theodre Racing by Prema) and Callum Ilott ( SJM Theodore Racing by Prema) , all within 0.08secs of each other.

FIA European F3 champion Lando Norris (Carlin Dallara VW), 2min 15.434secs was eighth fastest, and the last in the 2min 15sec bracket.

Norris survived a small overshoot at Lisboa corner when he was lining up for a fast lap towards the end of the session.

Mick Schumacher ( SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Dallara Mercedes) was the first Macau Rookie in the field , ninth outright on 2min 16.190secs.

Sette Camara , twenty second in his first Macau appearance in 2015 was third in last year’s inaugural FIA F3 World Cup.

Drivers face the first of two qualifying sessions later on Day One.

FIA European F3 champion Lando Norris (Carlin Dallara VW) has laid down two sensational successive laps to take provisional pole position in the first qualifying session for the FIA F3 World Cup at Macau.

His pole of 2m11.570s was the only time under the 2m12s barrier.

It was within 0.035s of the 2016 first session qualifying record of Felix Da Costa.

Pedro Piquet (Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara Mercedes) was second on 2m12.482s from Maximillian Gunther (SJM Theodore Racing  by Prema Dallara Mercedes), 2m12.619s.

Pursuit of Norris was halted by a fourth red flag when his Carlin teammate Johan Daruvala spun and was stranded on track.

The spectacular session in which the pole lead changed on no less than eleven occasions and times tumbled by more than five seconds was halted for almost 45 minutes when Sergio Sette Camara (Motopark with VEB Dallara VW) crashed heavily at Fishermen’s Bend.

Sette Camara had been fastest in the earlier first free practice session.

Before Sette Camara’s crash fastest times had been claimed by Yuhi Sekiguchi, Norris, Sette Camara, Joel Eriksson, Daniel Ticktum, Piquet, Ferdinand Habsurg and Maximillian Gunther.

Red flags were brought out when first Ryuji Kumita (B-Max Racing Team Dallara VW) and then Alex Palou (Tthree Bond Racing /Dorago Corse Dallara Tomei) crashed.

The restart after Palou’s crash resulted in a flurry of fastest times and the provisional pole tumbled into the high 2m13s bracket.

On the restart of the lengthy delay, Habsurg brought out waved yellow flags when he went straight ahead into a run off area at Moorish Hill but he was able to recover, preventing another red flag period.

Norris then took control.

His first flying lap resulted in a time of 2m12.125s which would have been fast enough to claim pole at the end of the session.

But he kept going and on his second flying lap in succession he stopped the clock a full 0.912secs ahead of Piquet.

Eighteen year old French driver Sacha Fenestraz (Carlin Dallara VW) was the fastest Macau Rookie, eighth fastest on 2min13.818sec , handing the Carlin team a double with Norris’s pole.

Drivers in the FIA F3 World Cup have another practice session and another qualifying opportunity on Day Two of the Macau GP.

Sweden’s Joel Eriksson, second to Lando Norris in the 2017 FIA F3 European Championship, is eyeing the FIA F3 World Cup at Macau on November 19 as his ultimate rematch.

Eriksson claimed seven victories in the 30 race European Championship to Norris’ nine while Callum Ilott scored six and Maximilian Gunther, five.

Between them the four major competitors stood on the top step of the podium for 90 percent of the series.

They have entered the FIA F3 World Cup, along with single round winners Jehan Daruvala and Ferdinand Habsburg, in a bid to further their careers.

The average age of all six is just 19 years 4.5 months.

The youngest is champion Lando Norris who turns 18 on the Monday of Macau race week, while the “oldest” is Ferdinand Habsburg, 20 years and four months.

“Over a long series you only need a bad weekend and you are handicapped for contention,” 19-year-old Eriksson said.

“This year I had too many bad weekends.

“Macau is the opportunity for a rematch.”

Eriksson has been working hard to find an advantage in Macau’s winner-take-all 15 lap (93km) FIA World Cup sprint and he thinks he may have found it.

He scheduled race simulation work in the lead up to Macau seeking to refresh his memory of the road circuit and to find opportunity

 “Everyone says Lisboa Corner at the end of the long Mandarin straight is the only passing place on the circuit,” he said.

“But there are two more passing opportunities on the climb up to the top of Guia hill.

“You have to be very committed and opportunistic to pull them off.”

Eriksson is naturally reluctant to reveal tactics but he is pleased that his Motopark with VEB team-mate is Sergio Sette Camara, third placegetter in the inaugural FIA F3 World Cup in 2016.

Camara did not contest the European championship this year but he is something of a Macau veteran with two years’ experience at the track.

“You need to gather all the laps and all the data you possibly can in a very short time and the two of us will work together.

“I expect to learn a lot from and with him.

 “It’s quite hard for drivers – there are very few reference points.”

Eriksson experienced a bad weekend in his first attempt at Macau in 2016 – technical issues in practice and a collision in the main race which forced his retirement.

“After all the work you’ve done you still need everything working for you – not against you,“ he said.

“Luck will always play a part in victory – especially at Macau.”

The FIA F3 World Cup field has two 40 minute practice sessions, two 40 minute qualifying periods and then a 10 lap qualifying race before the main event of 15 laps.