Brazilian Fabio Carbone saved his best until last to grab pole position for the 50th Macau Grand Prix in final qualifying on Friday - before hitting the barriers and damaging his car. The Signature Plus driver found a clear run in the traffic to edge out closest challengers Ryan Briscoe and provisional pole position holder James Courtney.

But as he tried to further improve his time, the former winner of the Marlboro Masters F3 race pushed too hard and spun into the barriers at San Francisco Bend. Despite sitting out the final minutes of the session he had done enough to clinch the top spot.

Clearly delighted with the result, Carbone said: "It's unbelievable. The car was good yesterday so I felt really confident today. The car was perfect and I pushed really hard."

Australian Ryan Briscoe put a morning practice accident firmly behind him as he secured a place on the front row of the grid - despite a spin early in the session. The Euroseries F3 champion, who was the leading Macau rookie, put in his best lap near the end of the session to edge out compatriot Courtney.

He said: "It's just fantastic. This is a very special and difficult circuit. I am feeling quite confident for the race, I have a good car, especially in the top section, but I know I have a lot to learn - and I am improving every time out."

Courtney, who had been quickest in every session before second qualifying, was disappointed with his third fastest time. He was one of the few drivers not to improve their time from first qualifying and blamed a wrong change of set-up and time lost in traffic for his plight.

"We made some changes before qualifying, after my team-mate had tried them this morning, but they didn't really improve anything," explained the TOM'S driver. "There was a lot of traffic and incidents out there and the time should have been better. But I feel quite confident for the race because there are plenty of chances to overtake here."

After the two red flags that blighted first qualifying, there were relatively few incidents during the final session. Carlin Motorsport drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Nico Rosberg both hit the barriers at Police, while Robert Doornbos crashed at Lisboa.

Issued on behalf of the Macau Grand Prix Committee by PR Plus Limited