British driver Dan Ticktum won the Suncity Group F3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup – for the second consecutive time, at the 65th Macau Grand Prix last month, after a dramatic race.
The Motopark driver led every lap during an incident-filled event where there were two Safety Car periods and a lengthy red flag interruption following a major accident involving German driver, Sophia Flörsch.
Flörsch’s car flew over the barrier after being launched over the top of Sho Tsuboi’s car at Lisboa Bend on lap four. Both drivers were transferred to hospital, as well as two photographers and a marshal, but it was confirmed that none had suffered critical injuries.
Following a lengthy red flag delay to repair broken catch fencing, Ticktum got away well at the restart and briefly came under pressure from the pursuing Joel Eriksson on lap 12, after the Swede had got past Sacha Fenestraz at the restart on lap seven.
But Ticktum had plenty of speed on hand and pulled off what he believed had been a perfect performance.
“It was less surprising but more enjoyable than last year’s win,” said Ticktum. “When you dominate a weekend like that it is very, very special. I’m ecstatic.”
Fenestraz finished third, ahead of Jake Hughes, Mick Schumacher and Ralf Aron.
FARFUS TAKES EMOTIONAL WIN IN MACAO
BMW’s Augusto Farfus Jr. held off race-long pressure from his Mercedes rivals to take an emotional victory in the SJM Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup race on Sunday.
The Brazilian made a good getaway from pole position to take the lead from fellow front row starter Raffaele Marciello before the cars had turned in to the first left hander, and from there he managed to pull more than one second clear over the first two laps.
Marciello made a mistake under braking for Lisboa Bend on lap eight and was forced to stop against the barriers before rejoining down in 10th. This left it open for Maro Engel’s Mercedes to challenge and he quickly closed in on Farfus. But despite getting within eight tenths of a second of the lead BMW, and being quicker in the mountain section of the track, he was unable to get close enough to try an overtaking move.
Speaking about his victory in what was Charly Lamm’s last race as Schnitzer BMW boss, Farfus said: “I am out of words, and this win has such a special meaning. Many years ago we lost a championship here and today we won.”
Behind Farfus and Engel, Edoardo Mortara recovered from an early race scare at Police Bend, where he thought he was going to crash out, to close in on the leading duo. But he could do nothing to move up further and had to settle for third, ahead of Porsche’s Earl Bamber and Audi’s Robin Frijns.
HICKMAN TAKES MACAO TRIPLE CROWN
Peter Hickman (Aspire-Ho by Bathams BMW) took a full set of firsts away from the Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 52nd Edition, converting pole into victory and adding fastest lap to his tally for good measure. He set that time on lap 4 after he decided against following early leader Michael Rutter (Aspire-Ho by Bathams Honda RC213V) any longer, and set off in pursuit of victory instead. Hickman’s win was his third in Macau, following on from his victories in 2015 and 2016.
“On the third lap I thought, I’ll get my head down a bit and see if I can break in just a little bit, get a little bit of a gap and see if I can manage it, which was basically what I did,” said Hickman. “After half distance, I thought I’ll get my head back down again and did a low 24, which pulled the gap back out again. It’s fantastic for me. For Aspire-Ho and Bathams, a win here is absolutely brilliant.”
For Rutter, it was his 19th podium finish since his Macau debut in 1994: “The bike went off the line absolutely perfectly and I just got in front of Pete into turn 1. When he came flying past I thought I’d stay on the back of him, but he pulled so much on me in just one lap. To be fair to Pete, he was on rails!”
