Manor Motorsport team boss John Booth believes they could have been celebrating a Macau Grand Prix victory after Kodai Tsukakoshi fought to second place around the streets of the principality.

Joining regular drivers James Jakes, Yelmer Buurman and Franck Mailleux for the event, Japanese Formula 3 contender Tsukakoshi was hoping to use his experience of the Macanese circuit to good use in a competitive package.

However, after looking strong in qualifying to take third position on the grid, Honda-backed Tsukakoshi got caught up in a collision in the qualifying race that dropped him down the order.

Nonetheless, after fighting back to ninth place by the chequered flag, the 20-year-old continued where he left off in the final, scything his way through the order to pass Kazuya Oshima for second place on the penultimate lap.

Although he closed the gap down to eventual winner Oliver Jarvis, Tsukakoshi had to settle for a still excellent second place finish, much to Booth's delight.

“Kodai had great pace all weekend and it was a shame what happened in the qualifying race. From ninth on the grid it was always going to be tough today but he performed brilliantly to finish in second place. He was a couple of 10ths of a second quicker per lap than Jarvis.”

With three of their cars finishing inside the top ten in the qualifying race, Manor had high hopes for the remainder of their entrants. However, while Jakes' seventh place made him the best of the Euroseries contingent, it was still three places lower than he started. Furthermore, both Buurman and Mailleux crashed out of the running.