Teammates Carlo van Dam and Keisuke Kunimoto hold all the aces, for the moment, after they grabbed the top two slots on the grid for the 10-lap Formula Three qualification race at the 55th Macau Grand Prix today.
Japan F3 champion Van Dam grabbed pole for the TOM'S team with a last-gasp lap of two minutes and 11:846 seconds, enough to give him the early edge for today's race, which will decide the starting grid for tomorrow's 15-lap spectacle to decide the 2008 Macau champion.
'I began slow but then began to push,' said Van Dam after finishing a session twice stopped by red flags with his nose just in front.
'I was confident that I would improve and I did just that. Although the race tomorrow is another qualifying session, it is looking really good so far,' added the flying Dutchman.
The TOM'S team had a bit of luck after second-placed Briton Sam Bird was penalised for ignoring the red lights at the pit entrance, which required him to stop so that his car could be weighed during the morning's free-practice session.
Manor Motorsport's Bird finished with the second-best time of the day - 2:11.988 - but the cost of his weighbridge infraction saw him bumped down three places and he will start fifth today.
Bird's misfortune benefited Japanese ace Kunimoto. Van Dam's teammate kept on his tail and sailed home with the third-fastest time of the day, and thus finds himself in second place.