1 week Ago
Raffaele Marciello has continued his remarkable record in Macau by triumphing in the FIA GT World Cup qualification race, leading all of the contest bar one corner. Marciello has won both races at the last two editions of this event with Mercedes and again triumphed from pole upon his first outing around the Guia circuit for BMW. However, it was not straightforward at the start as his MCG-run BMW M4 was passed by Dries Vanthoor's WRT example out of Reservoir Bend.
Yet Vanthoor's lead only lasted as far as Lisboa where he ran slightly deep and Macau expert Marciello swept back ahead. The gap between the two BMWs continued to ebb and flow throughout the remainder of the 12-lap contest, hovering around the second mark for most of the time. Vanthoor did close to within a devilish 0.
666s on the final tour but never had the chance to fight back and had to settle for the runner-up spot. The lead M4s quickly pulled away from the rest, defying a 40 millibar turbo boost BoP reduction between qualifying and the opening race, and they were helped by Antonio Fuoco's AF Corse Ferrari 296 battling past the GMR Mercedes of Maro Engel off the line. Le Mans 24 Hours winner Fuoco held third place on the inside into Lisboa and spent most of the race with the Mercedes of three-time Macau conqueror Engel in his mirrors.
But, mid-race, Engel's attentions had to turn to another pair of BMWs behind, Augusto Farfus (Team KRC) ahead of Sheldon van der Linde's WRT machine. Despite this quartet getting close at times, there were no position changes - even with van der Linde setting the fastest lap on the final tour - meaning Macau GT debutant Fuoco completed the podium. Further back, in seventh and eighth, came the Porches of Alessio Picariello and Laurens Vanthoor, the latter sending Christopher Haase's Audi brushing into the wall as they began the race.
Haase continued to finish ninth, one place ahead of Edoardo Mortara - the Swiss having switched to Lamborghini for this year as the manufacturer makes its first GT World Cup appearance since 2017. Unlike some of the chaotic practice and qualifying sessions earlier in the event, there were no major incidents during this race and all 22 starters finished. The Lamborghini Huracan of Luca Engstler was unable to take part after a sizeable crash at Mandarin that ended Friday's qualifying session early left him in hospital for precautionary concussion and possible leg injury checks.
Follow the live action from this year's Macau Grand Prix on Motorsport.com and Motorsport.tv .
Qualifying race results: Cla No Driver Car / Engine Time Gap 1 1 R.Marciello BMW 27'37.981 2 32 Dries Vanthoor BMW 27'38.
647 0.666 3 83 Antonio Fuoco Ferrari 27'39.827 1.
846 4 130 Maro Engel Mercedes 27'42.486 4.505 5 89 Augusto Farfus BMW 27'44.
369 6.388 6 31 S.van der Linde BMW 27'44.
742 6.761 7 911 A.Picariello Porsche 27'48.
223 10.242 8 25 Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 27'50.088 12.
107 9 33 C.Haase Audi 27'52.434 14.
453 10 63 Edoardo Mortara Lamborghini 27'56.239 18.258 11 36 Ricardo Feller Audi 27'56.
634 18.653 12 77 D.Juncadella Mercedes 28'04.
092 26.111 13 50 Yifei Ye Ferrari 28'04.353 26.
372 14 7 Ralf Aron Mercedes 28'09.942 31.961 15 4 Thomas Preining Porsche 28'11.
913 33.932 16 51 Daniel Serra Ferrari 28'12.417 34.
436 17 88 Laurin Heinrich Porsche 28'13.149 35.168 18 19 Matteo Cairoli Lamborghini 28'14.
600 36.619 19 10 Adderly Fong Audi 28'16.820 38.
839 20 566 Hong Li Ye Porsche 28'17.376 39.395 21 30 James Yu Audi 28'25.
315 47.334 22 99 Jules Gounon Mercedes 28'33.308 55.
327 - 8 Luca Engstler Lamborghini -.
