While a Japanese flag is certainly the favourite to be hoisted atop of the podium at the end of the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix, Kohei Hirate is hoping it will be him standing beneath it and not his countryman Kamui Kobayashi, who has dominated thus far.

The newly signed Trident Racing GP2 driver was always expected to be one of the favourites for the blue riband Formula Three event and proved as much when he qualified on the front row alongside Formula Three Euroseries counterpart Kobayashi.

He even converted that front row position into the lead when he got a better start than the ASM driver, only to see his hopes of retaining the lead disappear later round the first lap when he was out-slipstreamed by Kobayashi, dropping to second as a result.

Hirate would later lose second to a charging Marko Asmer and despite his best efforts at hauling his way back past the Estonian, was unable to do better than third at the chequered flag.

Nonetheless, Hirate is adamant he knows why he didn't have the front running pace, blaming the fact he clipped one of Macau's fearsome walls on the warm-up lap and damaging his Manor-run Dallara. With that in mind, he is confident he will be able to challenge for victory from third for the all-important final.

“I had made a mistake on the formation lap and clipped the wall, so the geometry of the wheels on the right-hand side of my car wasn't too good. As a result, I lost some speed, but the lap times were still quite good. I am confident for tomorrow's race.”