The 69th Macau Grand Prix: A Hopeful Rehearsal for 2023 | Asia Motorsports Network – Renato Marques
The 69th edition of the Macau Grand Prix held in late November was, hopefully, a kind of rehearsal for a 70th edition that we all hope can bring back the glory and thrill of the past.
Although there was a lot of expectation for this year’s edition, especially due to the return of the foreign racers to the event, in reality, the expectations fell short in a weekend that even started well.
The return of the Motorcycle GP to the program as well as of some famous names from international racing panorama to the Macau GT Cup was the salt and pepper that everyone was hoping to season the return of the four-day racing week of the Grand Prix that has seen its status downgraded in the past two editions due to the imposed Covid-19 restrictions.
But not everything went as expected and after a Thursday and Friday dedicated to Free Practice and Qualifying sessions that went quite well, the race days brought back some ghosts from the past.
First was the Motorcycle GP, which finally completed its 54th edition this year. After an outing lap from the pits for the grid formation several riders, led by South Africa’s Sheridan Morais (debuting this year) raised their voices against track conditions for Race 1 on Saturday morning. According to the racers, the track had a lot of oil patches, particularly in fast bends like the Reservoir and Mandarin that could put at risk their safety.
After two riders’ meetings held on the starting grid, it was finally decided that they would be out on the track for a warmup lap with the front runners having the role to decide on if there were or not enough conditions to hold the race.
It did not take long into this lap until the red flags were waving in the circuit bringing the race to a standstill and postponing all the motorcycle action to the afternoon.
But then again, minutes before the Race 2 scheduled time, a crash of a car in one of the other racing categories at Reservoir bend caused an even larger oil split and worst, damaged the safety barrier leading the organizers to finally postpone the racing action to Sunday.
In the race, finally held on Sunday morning, Morais, starting from third place on the grid, began well and immediately jumped to the lead ahead of Finland’s Erno Kostamo and another debutant for this year, German racer David Datzer.
Under pressure from the two BMW riders, Morais was finally passed by the duo on lap 3 on the braking for the hairpin, in a overtake that looked more conceded by Morais than due to the work of Kostamo and Datzer. Still, the duo continued at a good pace until the checkered flag, although no overtaking between them took place for the whole race as all riders seemed happy with the positions they were holding. In the end, the experience of Kostamo of the circuit paid off giving him the win for the first time.
Morais finished third and another rookie in the Guia circuit, Lukas Maurer, finished fourth. Another returnee to Macau, Rob Hodson closed the top 5.
After the race, the riders reacted to the results, with Kostamo saying, “The week went as planned. I felt confident from the word go, just focusing on doing my own thing. I worked hard on my braking and that paid off. It’s an amazing feeling to win at Macau.”
Second-place finisher at his first outing in Macau, Datzer said, “It has been an amazing experience. To finish second and race with Shez (Sheridan Morais) and Erno (Kostamo) was a thrill. I’m so happy with my lap times too.”
Completing the podium, Morais also expressed his feelings after the race adding, “I’m extremely happy for my team, the fans, and the organizers. It’s great to reward them with a podium although I would have loved to win. The race went well from the start and I immediately went more than three seconds faster than qualifying but into the tight hairpin, I hit a false neutral. After that, while going into Turn 1, I nearly crashed so after that I took it easy and brought the Honda home in 3rd place.”
Full results of the Macau Motorcycle GP and all the weekend races can be found here.
