Mechanical misfortune deprives Doornbos in Macau.

The annual Macau F3 Grand prix looked set to bring some end-of-season cheer for Robert Doornbos, until two unexpected mechanical failures ended the Dutchman's hopes of a podium finish.

With good results achieved in both the British and European F3 championships during 2003, Doornbos and Menu Motorsport had headed for Macau in good spirits and a positive frame of mind, despite knowing that they would be up against the strongest field either had faced all season. Nevertheless, the Dutch driver - making his second appearance in Macau - was immediately on the pace with his Dallara-Opel, and was able to set the fifth fastest time in the first session of qualifying.

Several of the meetings early accidents involved some of the pre-race favourites, such as Nelson Piquet Jr and Robert Kubica, but Doornbos was able to set a series of fast lap times without making any mistakes, even if he believed he could have gone quicker.

The second qualifying session was somewhat different as, pushing to try and secure a vital front row slot, Doornbos found himself being pushed into the wall by another driver while he lying in fourth position on the timesheets. With his car damaged, the incident prevented the Dutchman from even holding on to his place on row three from session one, and he dropped to a disappointing tenth on combined qualifying times.

Lined up on the fifth row of the grid, the Menu Motorsport driver then made a trademark brilliant start, gaining five positions on the opening lap before the field found itself neutralised by the safety car after an accident resulting from Pierre Kaffer hitting the wall at San Francisco Bend and collecting Paolo Montin, Nico Rosberg, Alvaro Parente and Danny Watts.

Once the race resumed, Doornbos tried to claim a few more positions as he pushed towards the front of the grid for race two, but lost his chance of a podium finish when he was slowed by a broken driveshaft that left him to limp home in 14th.

"I was comfortable in my fifth position and was pushing hard," he reported, "The car was really well balanced and everything was going in the right direction when, on the last lap - just six corners before the finishing line - I had my driveshaft break. I was surprised because the car had always been perfect."

The second leg was equally unlucky for the promising Dutchman, despite making yet another good getaway from the outside of row seven. Once again, he had climbed to within sight of the podium - this time running third on the road and clocking pace-setting lap times - when he suffered a broken transmission broken after twelve laps and was forced to retire.

In the final race classification, Doornbos was awarded 16th place on aggregate - something that he admitted was not what he had been hoping for.

"I'm really disappointed," Doornbos sighed, "The team promised me a competitive car and I could demonstrate that this was the case in free practice, qualifying and during the races as well. If I had not had the mechanical failures, I would have finished in a top position, or maybe even on the podium.

"I was very fast in this car, but I can not believe that I had to stop because of two mechanical problems. In the second leg, I was pushing hard and, when I saw [eventual winner Nicolas] Lapierre and [Fabio] Carbone in front of mine, I thought 'well, Robert, you are going to celebrate today..' - then my car betrayed me with two laps to go!"