The Main Race of the FIA GT World Cup at Macau was less chaotic than the Qualifying Race on Saturday, but still had its problems, although they didn’t have a big impact in the whole thing, which saw Edoardo Mortara win again after a three-way during most of the race, proving again the power of Mercedes at the Guia Circuit.
The first two laps were done behind the Safety Car in name of security as rain poured earlier in the day and the track would still have some slippery points, but even with this most of the competitors made their bets on slick tires. With the green flag waved Edoardo Mortara kept his position and his stance, pretty much unlike Augusto Farfus and Raffaele Marciello, who were sliding everywhere, with the Brazilian taking the worst luck, almost crashing and losing the position.
It took only a single lap for the change of fortunes as Marciello had to retire due to overheating, which put Farfus again in second and Robin Frijns in third, but Farfus wasn’t even close enough to attack until the Lap 7, when Lucas di Grassi crashed and this brought the Safety Car to track. What could have been the opportunity to take the lead for Farfus turned into a fast pitstop as he was shown the Black and Orange Flag, so the Schnitzer Team staff had to take off the hanging bodywork parts of his M6 GT3.
On Lap 9 the race restarted again and while Frijns wasn’t in condition to attack Mortara, Maro Engel was eyeing the third position of Chaz Mostert, as forceful as the German was being in the middle of the field, with the action lasting less than a lap as Darryl O’Young crashed at the São Francisco Hill, bringing the Safety Car again, with the Green Flag coming back in a Lap.
While Engel had his eyes on Frijns, a BMW army was coming behind him, with the AAI cars of Mostert and Marco Wittmann being overtaken by Farfus, as Wittmann left the door open and was caught napping while Mostert lost the rear end of the M6 GT3 and crashed, although he still kept it going.
With a dry line clearly defined at the Guia Circuit, times were dropping down, which turned the next laps into a attack competition between Mortara and Frijns, but Engel joined the party on Lap 16, clocking better than the two in front of him, but almost identical lap times between the top-3 simply secured the win of Mortara, with Frijns and Engel right behind completing the podium.
With Mortara’s win, Mercedes also secured the World Cup for Manufacturers at Macau, the first since Mortara left Audi to drive for Mercedes.
PHOTO: Macau GP
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