It was a year of back-to-back victories at the 62nd Macau Grand Prix, with three of last year’s race winners returning to make it two in a row
Making history
Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist made racing history last month in Macau, becoming only the second driver to ever win the Formula 3 event in consecutive years (the other driver was Edoardo Mortara who has gone on to be a formidable contender in the Macau GT Cup every year since).
Rosenqvist started from pole position and got off the line well, but was quickly overtaken by this year’s European F3 rookie champion Charles Le Clerc on the run down to Lisboa. The two drivers continued a heated battle for a couple of laps exchanging positions until a crash brought out the red flag.
On the restart, Rosenqvist got out it front and managed to establish a 2.5 second gap. He dominated from then on and crossed the line triumphantly, 1.1 seconds ahead of Le Clerc.
“It feels even better to win it the second time,” said Rosenqvist. “In the beginning of the race I felt confident with the car, so even though Charles got ahead of me on the first lap I was sure I could get him back.”
Veteran F3 driver and Macau regular Alexander Sims used his experience and knowledge of the circuit to take third position.
Another notable performance came from Anotonio Giovinazzi, this year’s runner up in the European F3 championship. After crashing in practice, he came back to win the Qualification Race on the road, but was later penalized for his involvement in crashing out another former Macau winner, Daniel Juncadella. This pushed Giovinazzi back to tenth on the starting grid for the main race, but he drove impressively and clawed his way back to fourth place in the end.
AMG Defense
Also making it back-to-back wins in Macau was Mercedes AMG Driving Academy driver Maro Engels, who held off stiff competition to win the SJM Macau GT Cup in its inaugural year of FIA recognition.
The race meet didn’t start well for Engels, or fellow Mercedes driver and last year’s runner up Renger Van Der Zande, with both crashing their SLS AMG GT3’s in the practice session.
Not to be deterred, Engels came back strongly to win the Qualification Race and take pole position for the main event on Sunday. Former three-time champion Edoardo Mortara stormed to an early lead in his new Audi R8 LMS, but Engels got back in front on the run to Lisboa and began pulling ahead.
Unfortunately the race was yellow flagged on lap 14 of 18, and then quickly red flagged after a multi car pile up, so the result was called with Engel in first and Macau rookie Rene Rast in second in his Audi R8.
“It is so, so wonderful, and I’m so, so proud,” said Engel, taking his second win on the Guia street circuit and the inaugural FIA GT World Cup Drivers’ title. “I made a big mistake in qualifying and I thought that my weekend might be over and I’d blown the opportunity we had. To win this race today is amazing. I just love this place, I love this track.”
Mortara came in third on the track but was later judged to have jumped the start and was handed a 20 second penalty pushing him back to sixth. This gave third spot to Stefan Mucke in his Craft Bamboo Aston Martin.
Inaugural winner
Another driver to double down on his victory last year in Macau was Englishman Rob Huff, who cruised to victory in Race 1 of this year’s inaugural Suncity Group Macau Guia Race.
After securing pole position, Huff dominated the race in his WestCoast Racing Honda, crossing the line 7.8 seconds ahead of his nearest rival Jordi Gene, and taking his tally of Macau wins up to an impressive eight.
The chance at a ninth win in Race 2 was abruptly ended when he and Gene clashed on the run through the first left-hander resulting in a ten-car pile up.
From the restart, Swiss driver Stefano Comini and Spaniard Pepe Oriola continued a heated battle until lap 8, when Oriola ran into the back of Comini and his car suffered engine damage. Comini went on to take the checkered flag in his SEAT Leon, also securing the inaugural TCR International Series Championship and helping his Target Competition team to overall victory in the series.
“I have no words to explain. It is really something special to win the championship and to win Macau. To do both together is just wow,” he said after the race.
Hickman surprises
There is an accepted wisdom in the world of road racing that it takes at least three years to get truly familiar with the Macau circuit, but 28-year-old Peter Hickman turned that on its head this year, winning the 49th Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle GP on only his second visit here.
Macau veteran and last year’s third placer Martin Jessop took his maiden pole position for the race, after an impressive qualifying round. Jessop established a strong lead early on in the main race, but Hickman rode cleanly and by the half way mark caught up and overtook him at Lisboa.
Hickman never looked under threat from then on and went on to win the race by a convincing 6.2 seconds ahead of Jessop.
“It feels absolutely fantastic! This is only my second time in Macau,” said Hickman. “We all knew from the qualifying and practices that Martin was really strong. I thought, I just need to be clean, don’t make any mistakes and just be as fast as I can. As soon as I had a chance, I was close enough at Lisboa and I passed him straight away. Fortunately the plan worked.”
Eight-time Macau champion Michael Rutter had his work cut out for him battling Gary Johnson and 2013 winner Ian Hutchinson for third spot, but he managed to edge in front and get on the podium with Hickman and Jessop, making it a trifecta for the UK and for BMW bikes.
