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Kunimoto takes surprise Macau win

Keisuke Kunimoto upstaged the pre-event favourites to take a surprise victory in the Macau Grand Prix on Sunday

The TOM'S driver dominated the race from start-to-finish, withstanding pressure from his rivals, to take a win on his debut in the famous street race.

Kunimoto made the best start from second place on the grid, with polesitter Edoardo Mortara slotting in right underneath the rear wing of the TOM'S on the run down to Lisboa.

Right behind them, there was chaos before Mandarin Bend though as Roberto Streit closed the door on Sam Bird and the pair collided - with Streit being tipped into the barriers and suffering a heavy impact on the run through the corner.

The safety car was called out to help retrieve Streit and Bird's cars and, at the restart on lap three, Kunimoto led from Mortara, followed by Jaime Alguersuari, Daniel Campos-Hull and Roberto Merhi.

Campos-Hull managed to slipstream past Alguersuari for third under braking into Lisboa, just as Mortara locked up on the bumps. The Italian dropped to fourth behind Campos-Hull and Alguersuari, leaving himself with a lot to do if he was going to win the race.

Alguersuari got past Campos-Hull to take second into Lisboa on lap five, with Mortara snatching third from the Spaniard at the same place a lap later.

But as Alguersuari began closing the gap on leader Kunimoto, he was informed he would be given a drive-through penalty for jumping the start - which handed second back to Mortara.

Kunimoto found his lead being trimmed down until lap eight, when the safety car was called out following a sizeable accident suffered by Merhi at the final corner.

At the restart Kunimoto got away brilliantly, building up a near two-second advantage as it all went wrong for Mortara.

In his bid to keep up with Kunimoto, he ran wide at Matsuya and brushed the wall - slightly damaging his car.

Although still able to chip in to Kunimoto's lead, he could not erode it enough to be able to challenge for victory. Kunimoto eventually finished 1.171 seconds ahead.

Behind the leading duo, Brendon Hartley secured a surprise podium finish - having picked his way through the field from 20th on the grid, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process.

Hartley benefited from the first lap chaos and later from a collision when Kei Cozzolini ran into the back of Campos-Hull under braking for Lisboa on lap 13, putting them both out of contention.

Mika Maki finished fourth, ahead of Renger van der Zande and Laurens Vanthoor.

Pos Driver                  Team          Car          Gap
 1. Keisuke Kunimoto        TOM'S         D/T    41:01.864
 2. Edoardo Mortara         Signature     D/V       +1.710
 3. Brendon Hartley         Carlin        D/M       +4.006
 4. Mika Maki               Signature     D/M       +8.442
 5. Renger van der Zande    Prema         D/M      +10.276
 6. Laurens Vanthoor        RC            D/V      +12.975
 7. Oliver Turvey           Carlin        D/M      +13.134
 8. Walter Grubmuller       Hitech        D/M      +14.695
 9. Jules Bianchi           ART           D/M      +18.725
10. Jaime Alguersuari       Carlin        D/M      +20.801
11. Jon Lancaster           Manor         D/M      +20.898
12. James Jakes             ART           D/M      +21.418
13. Franky Cheng            Signature     D/V      +22.404
14. Max Chilton             Hitech        D/M      +22.604
15. Kei Cozzolino           Now           D/T      +23.270
16. Kazuya Oshima           Manor         D/M      +23.930
17. Daniel Campos-Hull      HBR           D/M      +24.997
18. Atte Mustonen           Double R      D/M      +33.744
19. Nicola de Marco         RC            D/V      +46.527
20. Michael Ho              Double R      D/M      +51.739

Retirements

    Stefano Coletti         Prema         D/M      11 laps
    Basil Shaaban           HBR           D/M      10 laps
    Carlo van Dam           TOM'S         D/T       7 laps
    Roberto Merhi           Hitech        D/M       6 laps
    Massaki Matsushita      PTRS/Ombra    D/H       6 laps
    James Winslow           Ombra         D/H       5 laps
    Koki Saga               Le Beausset   D/T       2 laps
    Marcus Ericsson         Carlin        D/M       0 laps
    Roberto Streit          Double R      D/M       0 laps
    Sam Bird                Manor         D/M       0 laps


Fastest lap, Hartley 2:12.565 on lap 15

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