Macau Friday Notebook

Photo: FIA

***Raffaele Marciello admitted that he was “a bit lucky” to have scored pole for tomorrow’s Qualifying Race after setting his quickest time as part of a planned single run. The majority of teams opted to split the 30-minute session into two segments, which allowed them to put fresh tires on for a second pole attempt.

***Marciello said: “Without doing the second stint it looked really dumb. For sure I did a very strong first stint, which was to do one more lap than the others, I was improving so it was a good call. It’s a long weekend but it’s always important to start in the front in Macau. For sure I was maybe a bit lucky today but I’ll take it.”

***However, the two-segment strategy was hampered when Luca Engstler crashed heavily at the exit of Mandarin with four minutes to go, leading to an immediate red flag and no resumption of the session.

***Maro Engel, who qualified third in the No. 130 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, said: “As far as the team told me, we aborted the lap. If it was a lap it probably would have been good enough for pole. But that’s the way it goes around here. It’s usually in the second half where everyone puts up their fastest laps, so we wanted to leave ourselves enough time for that second run. But just lost out unfortunately to the BMWs.”

***Engstler was transported to a local hospital for precautionary checks after complaining of knee pain, per a FIA spokesperson. The 24-year-old German, in his FIA GT World Cup debut, is unlikely to take part in the remainder of the weekend due to suspected chassis damage to his Grasser Racing Team-run Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 from the heavy impact.

***All three cars that were damaged on Thursday returned to the track to qualify. A new nose, among other components, were fitted on the No. 8 Lamborghini of Engslter prior to his second accident of the event, while Adderly Fong’s Uno Racing Team Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II underwent repairs overnight and into Friday morning.

***The No. 31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sheldon van der Linde, whose car made heavy contact with the Turn 2 wall, did not sustain any chassis damage and was fully repaired by 9:30 p.m. last night according to a BMW spokesperson.

***Both Jules Gounon and Laurin Heinrich found the barriers in qualifying, meanwhile, with Heinrich’s Schumacher CLRT team getting the German back on track with a duct-taped nose to set an impressive 17th quickest time. Gounon, meanwhile, limped his Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG to the pit lane and did not set a time.

***This year’s field features ten drivers from the FIA World Endurance Championship, eight of them coming from the Hypercar class: Marciello, Gounon, Laurens Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor, Yifei Ye, Edoardo Mortara and Antonio Fuoco. The two LMGT3 drivers are Augusto Farfus and Dani Juncadella.

***Additionally, IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup drivers Juncadella, Matteo Cairoli and Daniel Serra are joined by reigning GTD Pro class champion Heinrich on the grid this weekend, while 2023 DTM champion Thomas Preining is taking part as well.

***Ye’s name on the No. 50 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 is written as “Y.F.YE” owing to the Chinese romanization of his name: (Ye) – (Yi) 飞 (Fei). The Ferrari factory driver is making his Macau debut and only second start in the 296 GT3.

***Ye said: “This year I have accumulated some driving experience with the Ferrari 296 GT3, especially thanks to the Monza [Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup] race in September. I believe that I can adapt to it quickly through the team’s experience and data from last year.”

***Ferrari’s Global Head of Endurance Antonello Coletta is on-site this weekend, along with other high-ranking motorsport executives that includes BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos, Mercedes-AMG customer racing boss Stefan Wendl, among others.

***Wendl told Sportscar365: “I don’t feel pressure. We won the last five editions. This is a very good feeling. I think the competition level is very high and this is probably the most competitive field in GT3 racing I’ve ever seen with all of the names, the drivers and teams here involved. It’s amazing to be part of and we will see where we end up.”

***He said the Mercedes-AMG teams are sharing a “limited but necessary amount” of data this weekend to help improve the manufacturer’s chances all around, especially with Macau GT3 newcomer Ralf Aron and Jules Gounon, who is here for only the second time.

***This year’s race is at its maximum 23-car capacity according to SRO Motorsports Group Asia director Benjamin Franassovici, whose team has been responsible for assembling the grid. “You can’t get more as you don’t have enough garages, and the contract is 23 cars,” he said. “It’s the maximum. If you have 20, it’s good enough, but 23 is great.”

***Franassovici revealed they initially held talks with two other GT3 manufacturers to join the grid but neither project materialized. It still has resulted in six GT3 brands this year, including an increased effort from Ferrari and the return of Lamborghini for the first time since 2017.

***He added: “Getting Macau off the ground [for GT World Cup] was a bit trickier in 2015/16. Times were different; the economy was a bit different. Now it’s booming. They all want to be here.”

***SRO Asia’s next major GT3 race, the rebirth of the Suzuka 1000km scheduled for September, has continued to “pick up momentum” according to Franassovici, who estimates close to a 30-car grid following the recent news of GT300 machinery from SUPER GT being allowed in.

***Sportscar365 understands that numerous Asian-based teams, including Absolute Racing and Phantom Global Racing, have already expressed plans or interest to take part in the race.

***Live streaming coverage of Saturday’s Qualifying Race will be available on the FIA’s YouTube channel beginning at 1:50 p.m. local time (12:50 a.m. ET) with the 16-lap Main Race on Sunday getting underway at 12:25 p.m. local (Saturday, 11:25 p.m. ET). Both races will feature the commentary team of David Addison and Alan Hyde.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John