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Rally GB, Macau GP, Bahrain WEC, NASCAR finale

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F3 - Macau GP: Cassidy is giving it another push, but remains 3.3 seconds behind race leader Rosenqvist at the end of lap 11.
WRC - GB: Welcome back to Wales, where the final day of Rally GB is about to begin with the 6.7 miles of Brenig, which will also be our Powerstage later on.

Jari-Matti Latvala has been doing stage guides for us all weekend, so here are his thoughts on today's opener:

"There are some narrow places in the forest in this stage and some of the corners are quite strange. It doesn't feel so natural.

"There is one long left-hand corner which tightens, tightens, tightens and then a straw bale which you have to go around. We will need to make sure we have the speed off for this place.

"Then we go to the Tarmac place and, I must say, this is nice.

"Then back to the gravel and it starts to go to a more open area, the characteristics of this section are nice.

"But there are a couple of places where you have a fast right and then it tightens suddenly.

In these sections I have the word 'mirage' which is something I learned from Pentti Airikkala."
F3 - Macau GP: Lap 10 gone and Rosenqvist is 3.7 seconds ahead of Cassidy still. Positions pretty static right now.
F3 - Macau GP: Lap nine and Rosenqvist's advantage drops to 3.5 seconds. Auer is falling away from Cassidy slightly as Merhi closes to within 1.1 seconds of the car in front.
WTCC - Macau: The only non-accident-related retirement in race two was the Lada of Mikhail Kozlovskiy. The Russian stopped with a steering-rack issue.
F3 - Macau GP: Another fastest lap for Rosenqvist who is 3.8 seconds clear. Auer has fallen slightly back from Cassidy, and doesn't appear particularly comfortable under braking for Lisboa. Lap eight of 15 done.
F3 - Macau GP: Auer managed to get in Cassidy's slipstream on the run down to Lisboa, but wasn't quite close enough. Their battle is allowing Rosenqvist to pull clear. He is 3.2 seconds in front now.
F3 - Macau GP: Cassidy has just had a bit of moment at Police, letting Auer close right in on him.
WTCC - Macau: A few more details have emerged over the illness that caused Gabriele Tarquini to pull out race two.

The Italian felt ill after dinner on Friday evening, and registered a temperature of 38 degrees C on Saturday. Tarquini did a sterling effort to finish third in race one, but reported to his JAS team that he couldn't have driven another lap.
F3 - Macau GP: Rosenqvist finds another two tenths on that lap to edge clear by two seconds now at the end of lap six. Further back, Max Verstappen is up to 12th.
F3 - Macau GP: At the end of lap five, Rosenqvist is now 1.8 seconds ahead of Cassidy. Auer is a further 1.1 seconds back.
F3 - Macau GP: Rosenqvist appears to be getting away - and it's Auer who looks like he is ready to put pressure on second placed man Nick Cassidy.
F3 - Macau GP: Rosenqvist extends his advantage by another half a second. He is 1.7 seconds ahead of Cassidy. Auer is third, Merhi fourth.
F3 - Macau GP: Rosenqvist edges clear to lead at the end of lap three. He is 1.2 seconds ahead of Cassidy, with Auer and Merhi right behind.
F3 - Macau GP: Rosenqvist gets away well but Auer is right with him - and tries to go around the outside at Lisboa. Auer brakes late and runs wide - letting Cassidy through.
WTCC - Macau: Munnich Motorsport's Gianni Morbidelli was uninjured in a race two accident at Fisherman's Bend. The Italian's Chevrolet Cruze also escaped with surprisingly little damage.

Hungaroring winner Morbidelli fears he is unlikely to raise the required sponsorship to continue in the series in 2015.
F3 - Macau GP: So will be a safety car restart as the field pull away behind it. This is counting as lap two. We will be back racing shortly.
WTCC - Macau: "I am not here to say whether drivers should be given penalties, but I was in fifth gear at 200km/h when he hit me," said Bennani. "He came to see me afterwards to say sorry, and I appreciate the human element, but that sort of driving is not what you should see in a world championship event."
F3 - Macau GP: It looks like Prema/Theodore have failed to get Antonio Fuoco's car fixed in time. He is being wheeled off the grid
WTCC - Macau: Mehdi Bennani was understandably outspoken after being taken out of the opening WTCC race at Macau by Hong Kong driver Henry Kwong.

Shanghai reversed-grid winner Bennani was running ninth when he was taken out by Kwong on the pit straight.
F3 - Macau GP: So when we get going again, Felix Rosenqvist will start on the front row ahead of Lucas Auer. Then there will be a gap on the second row ahead of Nick Cassidy and Roberto Merhi.
Macau GT 2014

Macau GT 2014


Macau GT: The day's racing in Macau got off to an exciting – if slightly controversial start – with the Macau GT Cup.

Maro Engel led home team-mate Renger van der Zande for a Mercedes-Benz one-two after the pair blasted past pole position Edoardo Mortara off the line.

The pair were untroubled throughout and, although Mortara was able to get close through the mountain section, his Audi did not have the acceleration or straight-line speed to allow him to challenge in to Lisboa.

After the race, Mortara was clearly disappointed – and suggested that there were question marks over when the two Mercedes got away.

He did not quite accuse them of a jump start, but said he wanted to watch replays before making a judgement...
F3 - Macau GP: Restart scheduled for 16.10 local time - that's six minutes. Drivers getting in to cars - still work being done on some machines.
F3 - Macau GP: The race will restart with the original grid positions - meaning there will be gaps where Tom Blomqvist and Esteban Ocon should have been.
F3 - Macau GP: Jordan King has spoken briefly about his lucky escape as Carlin continue work on his car. "I was really scared I would get hurt," he said. "I ducked my head in the cockpit as he flew over me."
F3 - Macau GP: Replays of the crash show that Yu Kanamaru got launched after colliding with team-mate Jordan King as they turned in to San Francisco. He then bounced over their other team-mate Tom Blomqvist's car before landing on top of the barriers.
F3 - Macau GP: The lengthy red flag delay is useful for those drivers with car damage.

Carlin are working on Jordan King's car, Prema/Theodore are repairing front suspension of Antonio Fuoco's machine, while Markus Pommer is having new front suspension fitted. Max Verstappen is also having work done on his suspension.
Rob Huff and Yvan Muller

Rob Huff and Yvan Muller


WTCC - Macau: The WTCC races in Macau are often mayhem too, but this year they got through today's double-header with just a single safety car.

Jose Maria Lopez dominated race one, but race two was the epic, a three-way fight between Tiago Monteiro, Rob Huff and Yvan Muller that ended with a last-lap steering problem for Monteiro and a remarkable seventh Macau win for Huff.

Here's the full stories and results:

Macau WTCC race one report
Macau WTCC race two report

We'll be bringing you plenty more reaction from the WTCC paddock through the morning on Race Centre Live.
F3 - Macau GP: The good news is that there luckily appears to be no injuries from that crash. It is quite rare for a car to end up on top of the barriers.
F3 - Macau GP: There is a lot of work going on the grid now as teams set about trying to repair damaged cars. San Francisco Bend is getting cleared.
F3 - Macau GP: It looks like the casualties of that crash are Blomqvist, Ocon, Martin Cao, Yu Kanamaru and Spike Goddard.
F3 - Macau GP: The cars are now back on the grid and we will await an official time for the restart. Kanamaru's car is still on top of the barriers
F3 - Macau GP: Amazingly, pole position man Felix Rosenqvist, who got away slowly, came through the chaos to take the lead as the red flags came out.
F3 - Macau GP: As they went into San Fransisco, Ocon understeers into the barriers taking Blomqvist with him.

Within seconds, Yu Kanamaru is launched over the top of Blomqvist and lands on top of the barriers
F3 - Macau GP: It all started at Lisboa Bend when race leader Lucas Auer braked late and ran wide. Tom Blomqvist and Esteban Ocon clashed at the apex - and it appears Ocon's front suspension was damaged.
A dramatic start to the Macau GP as it is red-flagged after a major pile-up at San Fransisco bend.
F3 - Macau GP: The drivers are back on the grid ready for the start.
F3 - Macau GP: This is how Verstappen described his accident at the Solitude Esses yesterday:

"You always brake there just after a bump in the tight right-hander, and that’s what I did this time," Verstappen told AUTOSPORT.

"But I locked the rears suddenly and I missed the apex by about 3cm. It was all so silly – I didn’t hit the wall that hard, I just touched it with the rear tyre, then it went off the rim, and that pulled me in and it just took the front off. Not like a hard hit, it was just like a scratch. But that’s Macau.

"For the grand prix, I need to make a good start, try to gain some places in the first corner and every lap try to pass people."

Verstappen was fined US $500 for driving his damaged car back to the pitlane.
F3 - Macau GP: The field sets off for the green flag lap.

By: AUTOSPORT staff, Peter Mills, Gary Watkins, Marcus Simmons, Jonathan Noble

Published: