Toyota Racing Series driver Richard Verschoor has claimed victory in the 2019 Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix ahead of pre-race favourite Juri Vips.
Kiwi drivers Liam Lawson and Marcus Armstrong finished seventh and eighth.
In the Qualifying Race drivers ahead of Lawson collided at the first tight right hander, Lisboa, leaving him trapped and badly delayed.
That left him 20th on the grid for the Grand Prix but the MP Motorsport driver blitzed his way past seven cars on the first lap and continued his inspired drive through the field to finally finish 7th.
“What an incredible event,” commented Lawson. “I learnt so much in the race today. For the first time since I got here I gave it everything, I was up against the wall at every turn, almost clipping the wall at every turn and it is so intense round here I was totally spent at the end, it’s that kind of place, supper tough, incredible.”
“Coming into the weekend everyone was telling me not to crash, to keep it in one piece and I drove it like that so when we got to Qualifying it was the first time that I really went for it and the lap was not good enough. I had another couple of laps but got blocked so only qualified 15th.”
“I knew I was quicker than that so I thought I could do something from there. Then got stuck behind the other cars in the first corner crash. I was the last one to get clear so getting through to 20th wasn’t bad.”
“For the start today I couldn’t see the lights and didn’t realise they were coming on, as the other cars moved I did. So I was behind on the run down to the first corner. But that worked out as they all braked and queued up, I got a clear run through and jumped past a load on the straight to the next.”
“From there I just kept going and it was a good finish. Good, very good but still frustrating and disappointing, thinking of what might have been with a better Qualifying. If I come back next year I’ll be going for it from earlier on. That’s what Richard (Verschoor) did and all credit to him for his win.”
SJM Prema Theodore Racing faced up and down fortunes in the 66th edition of the Macau Grand Prix. Starting from the second place on the grid after yesterday’s brilliant podium finish in the qualification race, Russian Robert Shwartzman picked up damage after contact during the opening lap and was forced to park his car with a broken front wing on the outside of Lisboa corner.
That left the team with two cars running outside the top-15, as Marcus Armstrong and Frederik Vesti had low starting positions after being held up by an incident in yesterday’s early melee. Neither the New Zealander or the Dane gave up without a fight and both sliced their way through the field with brilliant overtaking manoeuvres.
“It’s a shame for the result because this weekend everything has been almost perfect,” commented Armstrong. “The car was really good, the starts, tyres, warmups were very strong. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in qualifying and then there was the pile-up in race 1. That’s Macau, but we were fast, and we showed we had the potential to be at the front.”
Setting some of the fastest laps of the day, Armstrong eventually finished in eighth showcasing his talent with bold moves at Lisboa and only one safety-car to help his efforts.
Frederik Vesti delivered an equally impressive comeback from 18th place on the grid to the top-10. The 17-year-old racer left a strong impression showing great pace and consistency.
Race results
1 21 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport —
2 6 Juri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 0.792
3 28 Logan Sargeant Carlin 1.540
4 9 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 2.241
5 15 Alessio Lorandi Trident 5.020
6 25 Callum Ilott Sauber Junior Team 5.922
7 20 Liam Lawson MP Motorsport 8.594
8 2 Marcus Armstrong Prema Theodore Racing 9.365
9 14 David Beckmann Trident 13.239
10 3 Frederik Vesti Prema Theodore Racing 13.633
11 8 Yuki Tsunoda Hitech Grand Prix 15.717
12 17 Keyvan Andres HWA 18.665
13 30 Dan Ticktum Carlin 19.230
14 19 Lukas Dunner MP Motorsport 20.498
15 11 Sebastian Fernandez ART Grand Prix 21.705
16 27 Enzo Fittipaldi Sauber Junior Team 26.174
17 16 Jake Hughes HWA 26.294
18 7 Max Fewtrell Hitech Grand Prix 28.690
19 23 Charles Leong Jenzer Motorsport 33.792
20 24 Andreas Estner Jenzer Motorsport 34.400
21 26 David Schumacher Sauber Junior Team 35.894
22 32 Enaam Ahmed Campos Racing 36.521
23 22 Arjun Maini Jenzer Motorsport 37.184
24 29 Felipe Drugovich Carlin 37.621
25 31 Alessio Deledda Campos Racing 53.135
Ret 18 Sophia Floersch HWA Retirement
Ret 10 Ferdinand Habsburg ART Grand Prix Retirement
Ret 33 Leonardo Pulcini Campos Racing Retirement
Ret 12 Olli Caldwell Trident Retirement
Ret 5 Robert Shwartzman Prema Theodore Racing Retirement
Comments