Hitech Racing upheld honours for the British F3 International Series in the annual F3 Grand Prix in Macau with Estonian Marko Asmer finishing just off the podium in fourth place.
Asmer was consistently the quickest of the British F3 runners, setting the pace in the opening qualifying session before settling for second on the grid for the qualifying race – where he then finished second behind British driver Oliver Jarvis.
At the start of the main event, Asmer found himself squeezed out on the run down to Lisboa which meant he slipped down to fourth place. He managed to climb back into third place before Franck Mailleux crashed out of the race, leading to the deployment of the Safety Car.
When the race resumed, a charging Kodai Tsukakoshi found a way past dropping Asmer back down to fourth, and despite setting the race fastest lap, and establishing a new lap record on the way, he had to settle just outside the podium positions.
Young team-mate Walter Grubmuller continued to make excellent progress, with the 18-year-old F3 rookie gaining three seconds a lap over the course of the weekend. His personal best lap, achieved in the final stages of the race underlined his consistent improvement as he recorded 18th at the finish.
The team's third driver Michael Ho persevered with an overheating clutch, sustained as a result of the lengthy Safety Car period, and eventually finished 24th in the 15 lap race.
