Carlin enjoyed a successful qualifying session in Macau after seeing all four drivers inside the top 15 ahead of the qualifying race at the famed Chinese street circuit.

It came despite a challenging start to the Friday running after newly crowned British F3 champion Jaime Alguersuari went off into the wall late in the morning practice session while running fourth on the timesheets, damaging the rear of his Red Bull-backed Dallara and leaving the team with work to do to get the car ready for qualifying.

The Spaniard was able to take his place on the track when the 45 minute session kicked off but it was team-mate Oliver Turvey who was the man to watch as far as the Carlin crew was concerned, running as high as third on the timing sheets before the first of two red flags.

A further red flag with just minutes remaining left a late dash to post a time and at the end of the shuffle that followed, Turvey slipped down to eighth place although he was still the leading Carlin runner on the grid.

“I'm a little bit disappointed, having been in the top five for the majority of the session to drop down to eighth in the final stages,” he admitted. “I didn't really get a chance to put in a better lap right at the end as there was so much traffic. Tomorrow's race gives us a good chance to improve though, there are a lot of laps before the grid is decided for the main race, so I'll be pushing hard tomorrow.”

Alguersuari will line up behind Turvey in ninth place, while Brendon Hartley will start from eleventh.

Marcus Ericsson, making his debut for the team this weekend, will start from 15th.

“It's been a bit of a mixed bag today, although I'm very pleased with the progress our rookies have made, especially Oliver and Jaime who pulled it out of the bag when it really counted,” team boss Trevor Carlin reflected. “Brendon seems to have struggled with the set-up this weekend, I had hoped he would be a little further up; he's going to have to have some strong races now to get the results we know he is capable of.

“Marcus has also done a good job on his rookie campaign, he was caught out a bit by the red flags I think, as were many of the drivers. All in all, I think it was a good performance from the team.”