After a battle in the kitchen and a taste of Macanese cuisine, drivers and riders got down to business at the Guia Circuit as they tested more powerful F3 cars and fine-tuned bikes on the upgraded track on the first day of the 66th Macau Grand Prix yesterday.
Drivers and riders competing in the motor-racing event arrived in Macau a few days early to explore the city a bit and took part in some community activities.
Some of them experienced making some classic Macanese dishes, and after showing off their culinary skills on Wednesday, drivers and riders were on the track yesterday, gearing up for the real race this weekend.
Global motor-racing body FIA earlier announced that this year’s track would be upgraded with extra safety measures and crash barriers. The photographer stand at Lisboa Bend has been taken out altogether after last year’s crash that sent German F3 driver Sophia Flörsch “flying” towards the stand where several press photographers were on duty.
With the upgraded circuit, the FIA F3 World Cup will be using a more powerful specification car, which has a 3.4-litre V-type six-cylinder, a naturally aspirated engine with a maximum output of 380 horsepower.
Have fun
Flörsch, the survivor of the spectacular crash in last year’s F3 race, is back, and is ready to have some fun.
“I’m enjoying it, I’m trying to do my best and learn the car, because I don’t know the car, there’s no strategy, it’s just having fun,” Flörsch told reporters yesterday after testing the upgraded track with the new car.
The German racing driver insisted that she has no bad thoughts about last year’ crash, and no fear of taking the circuit this weekend either.
With FIA’s upgrade of the track to make it safer, she said, “I think you cannot start flying anymore, I hope. I don’t know, but what the FIA is doing normally works, so we’ll see.”
Since it was only the first time she drove the new car yesterday, she said she had no expectations in this year’s race, but would learn from the experience for the race next year.
Filling in 2-month break
Briton Callum Ilott is in Macau for the fifth year, despite having moved up to F2 this season. He told MPD Weekender that as he has a two-month break from F2 it was decided he would race again in Macau.
Ilott said, “I struggled at first in F2, it was difficult to get used to the car and the speed but it was a good learning [process] about the tyres and the performance.
“I have five years experience in Macau and I enjoy racing here even if it is stressful, it is a fun race,” he said.
The F3 cars are new so the drivers are still learning about them. Ilott said: “The first time I got in the car was here, they had to make me a seat yesterday [Wednesday], it was not easy as I did not get to test-drive the car. But today [yesterday] was pretty good.”
Ilott came seventh in the first qualifying session yesterday.
When asked about the new safety features on the circuit, Ilott said, “They are very subtle”.
No privilege to easy win
Russian Robert Shwartzman, who just recently won the FIA F3 Championship, told reporters yesterday that the title gives him happiness and maybe a trophy but that doesn’t mean a privilege in the race.
“It doesn’t give me any pressure or privilege thinking I’m going to beat anyone easily – because it’s Macau it’s completely different,” he said.
Yesterday’s qualifying round was marred by several red flags, which Shwartzman said prevented him from putting his performance in to full play.
“As soon as someone makes a mistake, the lap is destroyed, so it’s really tough when you know you can be faster or in the top 3 but the situation doesn’t allow you to be there, it’s really disappointing,” he said, but he said he was still upbeat that the situation would improve.
Going for top 15
Also new to the more powerful car spec is local F3 driver Charles Leong Hon Chio.
“I just need to get used to the car, that’s the challenge,” Leong said, “I’m aiming for top 15, and top 10 would be a win for me.”
Duel of bike champions continues
Last year’s Motorcycle Grand Prix winner, Peter Hickman, and second-placed “King of Macau” Michael Rutter resume their battle for supremacy at the 53rd Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix this weekend.
Hickman won the shortened race last year, due to a spate of accidents, 0.795 seconds ahead of teammate Rutter after the latter had led for most of the race.
In the first qualifying round yesterday Hickman on a BMW S 1000 RR had the fastest lap of 2.25.100 with a speed of 151.8 km/h ahead of Rutter on a Honda RC213V by 1.738 seconds. Both are on the same machines as last year.
MPD Weekender spoke to three-time Macau champion Hickman and eight-time Macau champion Rutter after the qualifying round in the pits yesterday afternoon. Hickman said that he had not completed the whole qualifying session [he did eight laps] as “we [the team] were faster than anyone so there was no point in going round and round.”
Hickman went on to say, “Everyone else will go faster tomorrow [today] so we shall just wait and see. I am feeling really comfortable this year, the team has set up the bike really well so I feel very comfortable and shall set out to go quicker tomorrow [today] in the qualifier.”
When asked about the new safety elements that have been added to the circuit since last year, Hickman said, “It is really no different for us as it has been set up for the cars and not the bikes, it is wider in places but there is no run off for the bikes, 50 metres is not enough for a bike.”
Last year Rutter had only been riding the Honda for a couple of weeks before coming to Macau so he was not that familiar with it then. He told MPD Weekender yesterday, “We made some changes over the year to the bike but they didn’t work so we have gone back to the set-up we had last year.”
Same team on podium
Asked how he thought he would do this year, Rutter smiled and said, “Peter [Hickman] is streets ahead of us which is why we have him in the MGM by Bathams team.”
Rutter said that he has had a good season this year, a couple of top three finishes at the Isle of Man TT and having his seventh win in the Isle of Man in the TT Zero race for electric bikes by doing the fastest lap ever in the class with an average speed of 121.909mph (almost 197 km/h).
“A podium finish as a team [Hickman and himself] would top off the year,” Rutter said.
When asked how he thought he would do this weekend despite Hickman being “so good”, Rutter said, “I am going to hang on for a few laps, you always think you will win and then there is a problem, [you have a problem or he has a problem] that is what riding bikes is like, but I am going to stay as close [to Hickman] as I can.”
25th anniversary
When reminded that this is his 25th year in Macau, Rutter laughed and said, “It feels like it! No really it has gone very quickly but it does feel like 25 years. I know I am not riding as well as I was 10 or 15 years ago. It is definitely something you think about. But I still enjoy it otherwise I wouldn’t keep coming back.”
‘Wouldn’t miss Macau’
Fellow Briton Sam West riding a BMW S100 RR is here for the 5th year and told MPD Weekender he has had a season of ups and downs, “I debuted in Armoy in Ireland, came second in the Southern 100, but in August I crashed during the Ulster Grand Prix so I have come to Macau with dodgy ankles and knees so this afternoon was hard work”, he said.
West qualified in 18th place yesterday.
West added, “I have a bit of weakness in my legs, but I am steadily building them up.”
When asked how he felt about his chances in Macau this year, West, who has gradually improved on his finishing position and times since his debut five years ago, said, “I am comfortable here now, I know my way around the city and the track. I can deal with the jetlag and the food, at first it was really new coming to China, everything was new, but now it feels like being at home.
“I am aiming for a 10th place finish this year, I am struggling a bit, but I am going for it. I tend to ride better on my own like in the TT; there is a lot of traffic here. I am a bit slower than last year but I am on a lower spec bike as I wrecked my superbike in Ireland, but I wasn’t going to miss coming to Macau,” West added.
