Sam Bird ended a superb maiden Formula 3 season with the mantle of proving the highest-placed rookie in the Macau Grand Prix, the young Brit coming away with sixth.

Having finished his first season in British Formula 3 with fourth overall, Bird lead Carlin Motorsport's charge in Macau and duly caused a few stirs in the qualifying race when he came up from 15th on the grid to finish fifth.

Bird looked equally racy in the final, getting a good start to pass Marko Asmer and James Jakes over the first few bends to run as high as third.

However, experience began to pay dividends for those around him with Asmer and Kodai Tsukakoshi passing him by the end of the second lap.

Back to his fifth place starting position, Bird resisted the advances of Roberto Streit for much of the race but eventually had to give up the place to drop to sixth. Nonetheless, Bird was still comfortably the best of the Macau rookies in sixth and ahead of several notable drivers, including every Euroseries entrant.

"Today saw some mixed results for the team,” said team boss Trevor Carlin. “Sam was extremely impressive; he made another fantastic start to challenge for the lead before settling into third place.

“Unfortunately he wasn't quite able to maintain that position and finished sixth, but in a field a strong as this year's, it's still an incredibly impressive performance from a Macau rookie.”