The Suncity Group 66th Macau Grand Prix will be held from November 14-17. The programme includes six races, of which three of the four headliners are official FIA World Cups.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix is designated the official FIA F3 World Cup, and this year for the first time the race will feature the cars which contest the new FIA F3 Championship. For the fifth successive year, the SJM Macau GT Cup is the FIA GT World Cup. The Macau Guia Race, meanwhile, will feature drivers and teams from the FIA World Touring Car Cup – WTCR for the second time. The Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 53rd Edition has once again attracted the cream of the world’s international road racers to compete on Macau’s legendary 6.2km Guia street circuit.
In addition to the four main races, the ever-popular FOOD4U Macau Touring Car Cup and the Suncity Group Greater Bay Area GT Cup, open this time to GT4 cars from a variety of manufacturers, will provide local and regional talent with a high-profile showcase.
The collaboration between the organizing committee, the AAMC and the FIA continues to make the Guia Circuit safer, including a number of significant upgrades and developments for this year.
A wide variety of promotional and educational campaigns have been running both at home and abroad since the start of the year, and activities will increase in the coming weeks.
The annual supercar and motorcycle show at Tap Seac Square on November 9 and 10, will mark the official opening of the Suncity Group 66th Macau Grand Prix. There, visitors and residents will be able to view the GT3 sportscars and superbikes which will take part in this year’s Grand Prix up close, and enjoy the official opening ceremony for the event on the Saturday afternoon.
Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix
Reigning and two-time Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup champion Dan Ticktum returns to Macau this year to attempt what no other driver has so far achieved in the race’s 37-year history: take the category’s most coveted victory a record third consecutive time.
Amongst the outstanding line-up are newly-crowned FIA Formula 3 champion Robert Shwartzman and runner-up Marcus Armstrong, both members of the Ferrari Driver Academy. The pair will be joined at SJM Prema Theodore Racing by Indian driver Jehan Daruvala, third in the championship and making his third visit to Macau.
David Schumacher is a newcomer to the race this year, the son of 1995 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix winner Ralf, and nephew of seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Michael, winner at Macau in 1990, entered with the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz, which is also making its debut on the Guia Circuit. Joining him on the team is another Ferrari Driver Academy member and Macau rookie, Enzo Fittipaldi, grandson of two-time F1 World Champion Emerson. Joining the pair on the team is Ferrari Driver Academy FIA Formula 2 Championship driver Callum Ilott.
Jenzer Motorsport fields Macau’s own Hon Chio Leong, who is out for his second attack in his home race.
SJM Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup
Four former SJM Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup champions will battle for victory in this year’s running of the prestigious event: Edoardo Mortara, Maro Engel, Laurens Vanthoor and Augusto Farfus Jr., who have eight wins in the race between them.
Mortara, who has six Macau victories across the GT race (2011, 2012, 2013, and 2017) and the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix to his name, will again drive a Mercedes-AMG GT3, this year for the factory Mercedes-AMG Team Craft Bamboo Racing squad.
Maro Engel, meanwhile, returns for a seventh straight year in a bid to extend a run of podiums stretching back to 2014, the year of the first of his two victories in the race. The German again drives for Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing team with which he finished second last year.
Rowe Racing fields two Porsche 911 GT3-Rs, one of which is for 2016 race winner Laurens Vanthoor, while reigning champion Farfus Jr. is back with BMW Team Schnitzer. The Brazilian drives one of two BMW M6 GT3s in the field.
Audi, the most successful marque in the 11-year history of the Macau GT Cup is represented by five cars, with the Belgian WRT team entering an Audi R8 LMS GT3 for Laurens Vanthoor’s younger brother Dries.
Suncity Group Macau Guia Race – FIA WTCR
Briton Rob Huff, the man who holds the record for the most victories on the Guia Circuit, is amongst eight other Macau Guia Race winners who will contest the Suncity Group Macau Guia Race – FIA WTCR which once again incorporates three races. The SLR VW Motorsport driver has won nine times in Macau between 2008 and 2017.
Huff is joined on the team by Macau winner Mehdi Bennani of Morocco, while another former winner, Norbert Michelisz, is the man to beat having emerged as the protagonist in a four-car Hyundai line-up. The Hungarian is partnered in the BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse line-up by Gabriele Tarquini, who claimed last year’s inaugural FIA WTCR drivers’ title by three points in a gripping season finale in Macau. Honda’s title challenge in the FIA WTCR this year has been headed by winner of that race, Esteban Guerrieri.
Cyan Racing Lynk & Co driver, four-time World Touring Car champion and two time winner in Macau in 2012 and 2013, Yvan Muller returns, while triple touring car world champion and two-time Macau winner Andy Priaulx returns to Macau for the first time since 2010.
Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 53rd Edition
Twenty-seven of the world’s top road racers from 11 different nations will line-up for the celebrated two-wheel spectacular that is Saturday’s Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 53rd Edition, amongst them no fewer than four former champions who have 13 victories between them.
Eight-time winner Michael Rutter is the most successful rider in the race’s history with victories spanning 1998 to 2012, and he will be gunning for his ninth win aboard the MotoGP-specification Aspire-Ho by Bathams Racing Honda RC213V. Alongside him will be Peter Hickman, who scorched to his third victory last year to add to his successes in 2015 and 2016, and will ride a Smiths-prepared BMW once again.
John McGuinness, a 23-time Isle of Man TT winner who took victory at Macau in 2001, returns aboard the very latest factory-backed PBM Ducati V4 R, while the fourth previous winner to return to the grid is 2013 champion Ian Hutchinson.
