NOVEMBER 14, 2003

Courtney on provisional pole for Macau

Japanese Formula 3 Champion James Courtney snatched pole in the final seconds of the first qualifying session for the Macau Grand Prix, bouncing Brazil's Fabio Carbone back to second.

Germany's Pierre Kaffer was third fastest ahead of Courtney's team mate Tatsuya Kataoka and Robert Doornbos.

There were two red flags in the course of the session in which saw Nelson Piquet Jr eighth, just ahead of Narain Karthikeyan and Nico Rosberg 12th. Ryan Briscoe had an accident and ended the session only 15th, 2.6 seconds slower than Courtney.