Macau Grand Prix blog

AUTOSPORT has sent Marcus Simmons and Peter Mills to Macau for the weekend to bring you all the latest news and reports from the former Portuguese enclave.

With the world's most prestigious Formula 3 race taking place, and Britain's Rob Huff on the verge of winning the World Touring Car title, there will be plenty going on.

In this rolling blog, which will be updated as the weekend progresses, our reporters will keep you up-to-date with everything you need to know.

SHINING A LIGHT ON SOME NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCES

This may not have been the most thrilling Macau Grand Prix, but there was a buzz about the place, with a general consensus that a fantastic young star of the future in Antonio Felix da Costa was a fully-deserving winner, and enormous plaudits to the leading trio for pushing on flat-out throughout the race.

Macau being what it is - a one-off winner-takes-all race with no championship points at stake - there are no prizes for finishing second. This means that there are plenty of disappointed people around, even if they've given some excellent performances.

Harry Tincknell was one. Alex Lynn may have made headlines with his performances for Fortec Motorsport, but Tincknell clicked with the place in qualifying and drove a fine race to sixth on Saturday.

He converted that to ninth in the main race, and was crestfallen to have dropped back, but in reality should be chuffed with a top-10 finish on his first visit to Macau.

"Me and Dani Juncadella were side-by-side in the first kink and I had to lift and lost momentum," he said. "Then for whatever reason I lacked straight-line speed. The car was mega through the mountain, but on the straight they just pulled away."

Going the opposite way was another Fortec man, Pipo Derani, and in contrast the Brazilian was delighted to be sixth from 13th on the grid. His form has been up-and-down in British F3 this year, but he made very good progress on what was also his first visit to Macau.

He tried an ultra-low-downforce single-plane wing in Saturday's race, which made things a bit lairy in the middle sector, but reverted to a more conventional double-plane for Sunday with satisfying results.

"To start 13th and finish sixth, overtaking them one-by-one, is amazing," he grinned. "I'm going to keep together with Fortec for 2013 for European F3 - the team has done a fantastic job. I love to be here and they've taught me a lot. This team is like a family."

And then there was poor old Alexander Sims. A top bloke with a lovely, understated, wry sense of humour, he fitted in perfectly with the ThreeBond/T-Sport camp. He could have had a strong result from 10th on the grid, if he hadn't stalled...

"My mistake," he grimaced. "It's a massive shame. From that point on, once I got going it was the strongest Macau race I've ever done. I got one car every lap, many times even before Mandarin."

As this is written it's quarter past six in the evening, and you can be sure some of those out-of-luck guys will feel better in a couple of hours with some end-of-season drinks poured down the hatch...

F3: YOUNG CHARGERS KEEP THEIR POWDER DRY... FOR NOW

The Formula 3 guys have led a charmed weekend weather-wise at Macau.

We'd all expected heavy rain on Friday, but it didn't arrive until the British media bunch had ensconced itself in a bar late in the evening to watch United States Grand Prix practice from Texas.

While AUTOSPORT's WTCC correspondent snuck off halfway through for an early night, the rest of us continued to be rather underwhelmed by another new circuit surrounded by acres of asphalt - and came to the conclusion that the GP in the East is much more exciting than the one in the West.

The remnants of that led to Saturday's Motorcycle GP warm-up being postponed. And then, just after the F3 qualifying race had finished, the rain came back just as the bike boys were on the first lap of their event. No GP for them today then; this place is dangerous enough in the dry for the two-wheeled heroes...

The F3 qualifier race was a good, clean one. It was fairly processional at the front, where winner Antonio Felix da Costa, Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Lynn all proved evenly matched on pace.

The interest lay behind, with Carlos Sainz Jr having to keep his elbows out to stop Daniel Juncadella getting past.

Juncadella may only have finished fifth, but he is still a very dark horse for Sunday's GP. He has used two fewer tyres than his main rivals over the weekend's duration, so has a full set of new Yokohamas for the 15 laps on Sunday. That could prove crucial, as long as it stays dry.

Lynn may have taken the glory at Fortec Motorsport this weekend, but Harry Tincknell has also been elated with his progress. Tincknell raced ahead of Juncadella for a while and will start the GP from sixth on the grid.

"I can't believe it's happening," said Tincknell, who's had a tough season. "This is a world-class field!"

He'll be 15 places ahead of Kevin Korjus, whose reason for his pitlane start in his Double R Racing machine is a first to these ears: "I stalled on the green-flag lap [his first start in a serious F3 race].

"In my usual Formula Renault 3.5 car you can't restart it, and I couldn't hear my radio very well. Then when they pushed me over to the wall I could hear them and they were asking, 'Can you restart?' Too late! My own fault. I could really have done with a safety car..."

F3: DA COSTA ON A ROLL

Antonio Felix da Costa continued his incredible late-2012 roll in Macau.

Victories in GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5, a Red Bull Formula 1 test, and On Saturday the Portuguese scored a win on his return to Formula 3 with Carlin...

Q: Felix Rosenqvist was never far behind you in the qualification race today. Were you having to push all the way?

Da Costa led every lap of the F3 qualification race in Macau... © LAT

Antonio Felix da Costa: I was pushing, but there's still a little bit more in there. It's easy to base your pace according to the guy ahead, but on this occasion I was having to set the pace, so that makes it more difficult. But the goal was to bring it home, and that's what I did.

Q: With three laps to go the gap came right down. What happened then?

AFDC: I was three tenths slower on that lap and Felix set his fastest lap, so it was just a bit of a coincidence. But then I set my fastest lap on the next lap. It was no problem.

Q: After racing in GP3 and FR3.5 this year, how did the test go when Carlin took all its Macau GP runners to Silverstone?

AFDC: Well, even then I had to do the first half-day in the wet with the old car because I needed to shake that down for the race at Snetterton [in MSV F3 Cup, which meant that da Costa completed the requisite F3 race to qualify for Macau]. So I only did 30 laps in the new car, and after that I had the Red Bull F1 test. It was hard to manage all that, but with Red Bull and Carlin we did a good job. Also I managed to get a test on the simulator before coming here. I have to say thanks to Red Bull, Carlin and Volkswagen for being so good to me!

Q: How was the race at Snetterton? It was a low-pressure club race, but did that make it fun?

...after the Portuguese (centre) passed poleman Lynn at the start © LAT

AFDC: It was wet all weekend so even then it was hard, but I had a good time and won by nearly a minute. It gave me some good indications. All the guys in the series were cool and I had to be aware that they were fighting for points in their own championship. Now they all keep tweeting me all the time, wishing me luck, which is really nice. It's nice to keep in touch with them. Maybe I'll race them again when I'm old!

Q: It's been a great weekend so far, so were you disappointed that final qualifying was the only session where the result wasn't what you'd hoped for, because of all the yellow and red flags?

AFDC: Yes I was a bit disappointed, because everyone wants to be on pole at Macau, but I was still quite happy to start P2. It's not so important when you consider what a dark weekend this had been, with two deaths and one of them Portuguese [motorcycle racer Luis Carreira]. I have a lot of respect for those guys and I hope his family can recover from this terrible moment.

WTCC: BAMBOO SHOOTING UP THE ORDER

There's something to be said about the whole 'triumph over adversity' concept following Macau WTCC qualifying, particularly in the case of Bamboo-Engineering; the British squad having regrouped from Darryl O'Young's massive crash in Thursday testing to record one of its strongest qualifying performance of the season.

Macau rookie Alex MacDowall claimed reversed-grid pole, while O'Young rewarded the team's intensive overnight repair work to his Cruze by qualifying sixth, and fastest of the Independents Trophy runners, for Sunday's opening race.

"It wasn't a late night, it was a late morning," said Bamboo team boss Richard Coleman. "The guys had a lot of work to do on Darryl's car's chassis leg, as it was bent up and pushed backwards. It really was a case of working miracles, and the guys barely had time to grab a shower on Friday morning."

In contrast to his team-mate, MacDowall used two sets of new tyres in first qualifying to progress into Q2, leaving the Carlisle-based driver just a single new-tyre run in the second session.

"It was pointless attempting another run in Q2," said MacDowall. "It is so risky around here to go out again."

O'Young was complimentary about his team-mate's efforts, and the Macau regular offered a few words of advice for MacDowall on what to expect for race day.

"The hardest part for us is what goes on before our WTCC races," said O'Young. "Last year there was loads of dust put down for oil, which caused [Alain] Menu to go off.

"Lots of things like that can happen. If at Turn 1 a car loses momentum, then it really scatters the pack at the start, whereas if you get through cleanly everybody gets a nice run."

"He says that, and it sounds like being 10th I am in the trouble zone," retorted MacDowall.

"No, at Macau, anyone can be in the trouble zone!" responded O'Young reassuringly. "Last year I got hit by Gabriele Tarquini and had a triple tank-slapper. It backed up everyone behind me and we were going into Mandarin bend four-wide!"

O'Young is something of a local hero in Macau, but despite taking three indie pole positions at the circuit, a class win around the Guia track has eluded him. Could this be his year?

"I am going to do all I can to finish the race, as I have had a lot of bad luck here in race one," said O'Young. "The further up you start, the better, and I think sixth is not too bad. But I am really grateful to the recovery work by the team."

F3: HARD LUCK STORIES

Felix Rosenqvist's great red-flag-spoiled qualifying lap (see below) wasn't the only hard luck story of Macau GP qualifying. And there are several drivers worth keeping an eye on down the field.

Poleman Alex Lynn's Fortec team-mates Harry Tincknell and Felix Serralles all benefited separately from tows from Japanese champion Ryo Hirakawa, who all day had been visibly cautious through R Bend onto the long main flat-out stretch thanks to his crash at that spot on Thursday morning. Perfect towing fodder, in other words.

But while Lynn and Tincknell used that benefit to be the top two rookies in the field, Serralles clanged into the barriers at Faraway - and there was a potential contender consigned to the midfield. "Shit happens," he summed up with a grin.

Most out of character was the session-ending shunt for Felipe Nasr, who has been elegantly quick since the meeting began, in contrast to more spectacular Carlin team-mates da Costa and Carlos Sainz Jr, whose style is more of the red-meat-eating kind.

Once he got off line at R Bend, the Brazilian was helpless to avoid a trip into the barriers. But he's sixth on the grid, and pledged that he shouldn't be ruled out.

Two others who might have been expected to shine are Daniel Abt and Alexander Sims. But Carlin driver Abt (who starts ninth) has been pretty sick for the past couple of days (an unhappy trait he shares with AUTOSPORT's F3 man and several others in the paddock), although team boss Trevor Carlin said that the German was on the mend today.

Sims, meanwhile, starts 14th, well and truly hampered by the ThreeBond/T-Sport team's pitlane position among the slower cars. The squad has been sending him out well behind the rest of the field just to get a clear track, so the incessant red flags affected him worse than anyone else.

While Lynn upheld British F3 honour, the championship's top two of Jack Harvey and Jazeman Jaafar are marooned in 13th and 19th respectively. For Harvey it's a case of playing catch-up after his steering problem on Thursday, while Jaafar is suffering from a lack of grip - and testing - with his TOM'S machine.

There was equal frustration for Double R Racing. Kevin Korjus was fastest overall in the taxing middle sector in the morning, but yellow/red-flag hell meant he was slowest overall in the final sector in qualifying. Such is the thin line between glory and ignominy that he will line up 21st.

That will make life difficult, but with passing relatively easy, expect the races to be somewhat interesting...

F3: ROSENQVIST DENIED BY REDS

It was a pretty standard day in Macau on Friday as far as the F3 boys were concerned. Dog on track at the start of free practice? Check. A few red flags as drivers overdid the limit? Check. Still having no idea about who's going to win this thing? Erm, check.

Alex Lynn made the headlines by becoming the first Macau GP rookie to start on pole for the qualification race since Kamui Kobayashi in 2006, but there are plenty of others still fancying their chances - not least Felix Rosenqvist, who was on a stonker of a lap when the session was red-flagged for the final time.

The Mucke Motorsport man still fancies his chances however. As he tells Marcus Simmons, he was after all on a lap that would have put him half a second in front of poleman Alex Lynn when the final red flag flew...

Q: You were on a fantastic lap. Why had you not been able to put one together earlier?

Felix Rosenqvist: In the beginning I didn't have any tow; I was on my own, and I overheated my tyres. Then we had a red flag and the tyres cooled down. On my first lap out I had a really good tow and I then went purple in sector two. I think I was half a second up on pole. But before the last corner the flags came out and I had to go into the pits - it was really frustrating. P4 is good but it would always be nice to get pole.

Q: You've been pretty strong at Macau since your first visit, with Performance Racing, in 2010. What do you like about the track?

FR: It's only really about finding a rhythm so that you're confident in every corner. If you start crashing around here then it's hard to go well. Mucke have provided me with a really good car - if they didn't, it would be scary!

Q: You had a pretty disappointing start to the season and then came on really strong. What changed?

FR: The other teams were maybe a bit better in adapting to the new Dallara F312. Then we went and did some testing and came back with a combination of aero and mechanical developments. By now I had a winning car but I had some bad luck, plus some mistakes and a lot of accidents. By the end of the season we were able to get some great results.

Q: Even before you raced in Macau, you were pretty familiar with Asia from your early days in car racing...

FR: Yes, I did two years in Asian Formula Renault in my rookie days. During that time I already came to Macau to watch a couple of times - it's always nice to come here.

Q: What's the plan for next year? After three years in F3, you must be keen to move up...

FR: I have no idea to be honest. There is nothing planned. Discussions will start after Macau. Mercedes are helping me and it's a bit up to them - I want to continue with them and I don't have any great budget. As far as formula racing is concerned, Formula Renault 3.5 is where I want to go.

WTCC: COZZOLINO'S CURIOUS COMEBACK

Hardships are relative, but the hunt for racing sponsorship and budgets is a familiar challenge for drivers on the motorsport ladder. An economic downturn and increased difficulty raising backing in Japan conspired to leave single-seater aspirant and former Toyota driver Kei Cozzolino on the sidelines for two years.

But thanks to some creative thinking, a tie-up with a Japanese girl group has sparked the Japanese-born Italian's comeback in Macau this weekend.

Cozzolino is competing behind the wheel of the ROAL Motorsport BMW vacated by Italian Superstars champion Alberto Cerqui. The arrangement is not without precedent, echoing Liverpool pop group Atomic Kitten's support of future British Touring Car Champion Colin Turkington in 2002.

"The idea behind the deal is that we persuade the Japanese fans who like the girls' singing to come to the race track," explained Cozzolino. "That is going to take time. The budget is there, but there needs to be a big promotion at the beginning of the project. The guy who made the deal was actually my tyre engineer in Formula 3!"

Cozzolino faces a tough challenge in Macau. Not only is it the 25-year-old's maiden WTCC race, but it is his first touring car race of any kind. Without any pre-event testing, Cozzolino's exploratory laps in Thursday's test proved daunting.

A high-speed spin at Mandarin passed without resulting in contact, but in Friday's opening practice session Cozzolino found the barriers.

"My main problem is it has been two years since I last drove a race car in Formula Nippon," said an upbeat Cozzolino. "It is a matter of lining up the puzzles.

"Yesterday I had an accident at Mandarin, but it is very nice that I have already shown my engineer that I can do some good corners compared to [team-mate] Tom Coronel. It is my first day in the office so I am figuring out where my pens and pencils are."

Cozzolino has high hopes the relationship will prosper to allow for a move into the Super GT series next season.

F3: ROOKIE LYNN SHINES IN THURSDAY QUALIFYING

Alex Lynn may be a Macau GP rookie, but he sat on provisional pole position with six minutes remaining in Thursday's opening qualifying session.

Even though he fell to fourth, the Fortec Motorsport man, who earlier in the day confirmed a switch to Prema Powerteam for a European F3 campaign in 2013, ended up as the leading Briton and top debutant on the Guia circuit.

Q: What sort of preparation did you do before coming to Macau?

Alex Lynn: We had two half-days on the simulator. After the first half-day, we analysed everything and came back to try and do a better job.

We also had a test at Silverstone and the prep we did there was mega. We were running even lower downforce than we've got today. My job was to just drive, give hardly any info to Russell [Dixon, Lynn's engineer] and let him do his thing!

Q: What about when you got to Macau?

AL: We arrived on Saturday evening and I've walked the track every single day. I've done five laps walking and two laps running. Andi Scott [Fortec chief engineer] did a great job of picking up any information he could and looking at everything he could find on YouTube. The team put in so much effort. We've had sit-down meetings at Fortec, getting points hammered into us.

Q: On your first day driving in Macau, what did you realistically expect?

AL: I genuinely wasn't going to be bothered if I was five seconds off at first. Then when I was on pole during the red flag, I said to Russ over the radio, 'Whether we get pole or not, did you ever think we'd be sitting here in this position?'

Without the gear-cut problem, do you think you could have found more time after the red flag?

Lynn finished fourth in British F3 this year with Fortec © LAT

AL: Maybe. The lap when I did my best time, I got a great tow at the start but then pressured myself too much in the middle sector. That and the last sector were a bit scrappy. The gear-cut takes your concentration away though, and that's the last thing you need around here.

Q: If it stays dry tomorrow, do you think your learning curve can carry you above the three guys in front and onto pole?

AL: Wherever I am, this is just a great event. But I should improve overnight, just going to sleep and letting it all sink in. I came away from first practice having learned a lot, and was quietly confident I could do a good job.

WTCC: HUFF ON VERGE OF CROWN

Chevrolet driver Rob Huff is strongly placed to win his maiden World Touring Car Championship title at Macau.

The Briton opened up a 35-point lead in the standings after winning a fraught second race at Shanghai a fortnight ago. Just 55 remain on the table this weekend.

That race was significant for a clash between Huff's team-mates Yvan Muller and Alain Menu that led to the Frenchman being given a post-race penalty.

Muller is 41 points behind Huff and six behind Menu, meaning that only a disaster can deny Huff the title. Peter Mills asked him his thoughts.

Q: Having been equal on points with Yvan at the top of the standings for so long, and then achieving a breakthrough in the points fight at Shanghai, what are your thoughts ahead of Macau's title showdown?

Huff won both races at Macau last year, but missed out on the title © LAT

Rob Huff: I have been trying not to think about it! I'll go into the race with the normal mentality that I take to Macau every year, which is to try my best to put it on pole.

Then, in the races, I'll see what happens. We know that we're very strong there, we have had pole the last three years, won the last four and did the double last year.

The only strategy I have is to try and get the championship wrapped up in race one. If we allow it to go to race two there is that extra risk, because obviously it is an extra race. That's my idea, but we'll have to wait and see what happens, because in Macau anything can happen.

Q: Did Chevrolet winning the manufacturers' championship at Suzuka mean there was an element of its drivers being let off the leash in China? Or do you think other factors at Shanghai, such as circuit design, played a role in the amount of contact that occurred?

RH: I can't answer for people outside Chevrolet, but when we won the manufacturers' title in qualifying in Suzuka, we all agreed to keep the same rules and strategies that had applied beforehand.

From what I saw and read, I got the impression that Yvan put his hand up and said, 'I made a mistake'. It is not ideal for him or Alain, but it worked out well for me. It is one of those things.

I can't not be happy about it. I have been on the receiving end of those sorts of incidents in the past, and to be completely uninvolved in it, and to be able to reap the rewards of it, was quite satisfying.

Q: The Chevrolet drivers are seasoned professionals, so was there any need for a big team debrief on the race two accident, or was the matter left between Yvan and Alain?

The touring car action got underway at Macau on Thursday

RH: It was nothing to do with me, so I stayed well out the way. They both congratulated me after the race. Then I stayed out the way and did my own thing.

We are all part of a very large team and the last thing RML want me to do is to go over and wind them up, but I'm not that sort of person anyway. I didn't know that Yvan had a 'drive-through' penalty until much later in the evening.

My goal after Shanghai was to come away either equal [at the top of the standings] or with a few points lead. When we left the circuit we had a 23-point lead and later on in the evening we ended up with a 35-point lead. I now need to make the most of this and do everything I can to win.

Q: You've been involved in a number of title run-ins, are they getting any easier with experience?

RH: Yes. I think there is a reason why the likes of Yvan, Gabriele [Tarquini] and Alain are always at the front. I hope I can include myself in that list as well. It purely comes down to experience.

The guys that have been in there the longest, naturally that tends to be the older guys - other than myself - always seem to be able to deliver the goods. I have to be clever. There are a lot people suggesting foul play might be involved and all the rest of it. I don't think that for one minute. I certainly hope that is not the case. If it is, I will be very upset and very angry. I am there to win a world championship and I will do anything it takes to win that.

Q: I have heard you describe how winning the World Touring Car Championship would change your life. How difficult is it to keep your lid on emotions inside the car at moments like this?

RH: I am quite a focused person mentally. I knew what I needed to do last year, and I went and did everything I needed to. I am pretty confident we can go and do what we need to do this year. We have to take it as it comes. I am going to do my best to put it on pole, I am not going there thinking about the championship, I am thinking about the pole position and win.

Q: Does the Macau Guia circuit offer any particular hazards or challenges that you have to be particularly wary of?

A: Because I have done so well there, people often ask, 'What is the secret to driving at Macau?' I don't really know the answer.

There's no doubt that the level of concentration is a lot higher than anywhere else. I find that it is quite easy to get into a rhythm and to find the exact limits without going beyond them. The concentration is at the absolute maximum for longer than anywhere else. It needs to be, because that one very small mistake of braking one metre too late can put you out.

F3: BULLER READY FOR VICTORY CHALLENGE

This weekend marks the 59th Macau Grand Prix, and since 1983 the centrepiece event has been for Formula 3 machinery.

Will Buller is one of 30 drivers lining up on the grid in the hope emulating former winners Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard.

He tells Marcus Simmons that his experience of the street track, coupled to a successful test recently, has left him in a confident mood to beat a strong line-up of Carlin team-mates that includes Felipe Massa, Jack Harvey and Antonio Felix da Costa, plus reigning champion, Prema Powerteam's Daniel Juncadella.

Q. Including your first visit in Formula BMW, this is your fourth time in Macau. What do you think of the event?

Will Buller: It's something else really. This circuit has to be one of my favourites. I raced in Monaco this year in GP3 but this track is fantastic for single-seaters and perfect for F3 cars. The whole week and build-up are impressive, and I'm happy to have the experience coming back here.

Q. Has your Macau experience prepared you to do well this time?

WB: I won in the BMW, and I was sixth last year in F3 [with Fortec Motorsport]. So it's not been too bad. But this year I'm really in it to win it. It's a standalone race; we're not here to score championship points and it's just going to be all down to Sunday's race.

Q. How has the preparation gone for Macau?

WB: We had a good test at Silverstone. Everyone at Carlin has been working really hard. We struggled a little bit in the Euro Series but a lot of effort has gone into this.

Q. Why was it a struggle in Euro Series?

WB: We had a few car problems. We didn't get our heads fully around the aero so we didn't get on top of the new Dallara as much as we should have.

But the test at Silverstone was great - the car felt better than it has done all year, even though we had a Macau set-up on that didn't suit the track.

We ran on the Yokohama tyres - it will be a different tyre they make for this weekend, but better to test on a different Yokohama than on Hankook [that is used in the Euro Series] or Cooper [British F3].

Q. What do you make of Carlin's all-star line-up for Macau?

WB: Trevor Carlin is very determined to win it, and he's made that statement with his driver choice. If you're the top Carlin driver, you're not going to be far away from winning. Also, I've been doing some Formula Renault 3.5 testing with Fortec and Comtec so that extra mileage will help coming into this weekend.

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