The Macau Grand Prix is one of the world’s most iconic street races. Located on the south coast of China, it’s been labeled the “Las Vegas of Asia,” though Monaco might be a more apt comparison. The Guia street circuit that plays host to the grand prix is tight, twisty, and flanked by guardrails, just like Monaco. Except the Macau GP isn’t just formula cars, but also has GT3, GT4, and motorcycles. It’s a can’t-miss event.
This year, BMW had two entries in the Macau FIA GT World Cup race. There were 16 GT3-spec cars, including BMW M4 GT3 EVO entries from ROWE Racing and Team WRT for factory drivers Raffaele Marciello and Sheldon van der Linde.
The nature of the Guia circuit makes qualifying very important, and the BMWs had mixed results. Marciello qualified fifth in the #53 M4 GT3 EVO, while van der Linde made a mistake and clipped the wall in the #31 M4 GT3 EVO, which put him last on the grid for the qualifying race on Saturday. Ferrari entries qualified one-two, led by factory driver Antonio Fuoco in a 296 GT3.
After the qualifying sessions, the Macau event featured a qualifying race on Saturday, which set the grid for the main race on Sunday. Marciello had a strong start in the qualifying race, as he moved up a position and was putting pressure on the second and third place cars before dropping back to fourth, which is where he finished. Starting from the back, Sheldon van der Linde was caught up in an incident with cars in front of him and spun but was able to get going again and finished twelfth. The qualifying race was won by Fuoco in the Ferrari.
Marciello had a great start in the main race on Sunday, moving up from fourth to second in the first couple of corners. He was never able to seriously challenge Fuoco in the leading Ferrari but held off Laurin Heinrich in a Porsche to secure a runner-up finish. “Our qualifying was not the best, for sure,” said Marciello. “When you start from fifth (referring to the first qualifying session) it’s always difficult to fight your way to the front. But we had a good first sector and in the main race, there was the opportunity to overtake at the start. But in the end we also need to admit that the Ferrari was too quick. I tried my best and second place was the maximum I could do today.”
Sheldon van der Linde had a solid race on Sunday as well, considering his starting position. He worked his way from 12th to seventh in the opening lap, helped by three cars in front of him that ended up in the tire barrier. He ultimately finished sixth.
BMW also had success on two wheels in Macau. In the 57th running of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix race, BMW Motorrad rider Davey Todd scored a victory on his #8 M 1000 RR run by Zeeco BMW. He was joined on the podium by fellow BMW Motorrad riders Peter Hickman and Erno Kostamo.
It was the second consecutive victory in Macau for Todd, though last year’s race was not held due to rain and results were based on qualifying. “I was joking with Pete (Hickman) saying that I now have one and a half Macau wins,” said Todd. “It’s awesome to do that and to prove everybody wrong after saying that last year’s win wasn’t a proper one. I had a point to prove coming here this year. I was really excited, we had a great pace, the whole Zeeco BMW Motorrad team has done an amazing job.”
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy BMW]
