Edoardo Mortara helps the Macau GT Cup team to victory.
Ahead of this week’s Suncity Group 64th Macau Grand Prix, the drivers and riders from the four headline races swapped the race track for the football pitch pre-event penalty shootout contest. Joining their motorsport heroes at the Olympic Sports Centre on Taipa for the football-themed friendly were students from a local school.
After a warm-up kickabout with the students, competitors from the Suncity Group Formula 3 Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup, the SJM Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup, the Suncity Group Macau Guia Race – FIA WTCC and the Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 51st Edition took turns to take a penalty shot each at a numbered board.
Proving as impressive on the pitch as they are on the track, the SJM Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup team of Nico Müller, Mirko Bortolotti, Lucas Di Grassi, Augusto Farfus, Edoardo Mortara, Daniel Juncadella, Felix Rosenqvist, Renger van der Zande, Laurens Vanthoor and Maro Engel won the event with 65 points. It was an auspicious start to their Grand Prix, as the Macau GT Cup prepares to celebrate its 10th running, and the team included no fewer than seven former winners on the Guia Circuit.
Just three points behind were the seven-strong team of riders made up of Michael Rutter, Conor Cummins, Gary Johnson, André Pires, Petr Biciste, Daniel Hegarty and Didier Grams.
The ten-man team from the Suncity Group Guia Race of Macau – FIA WTCC was third, with Ryo Michigami, Esteban Guerrieri, Norbert Michelisz, Thed Björk, Nicky Catsburg, Nestor Girolami, Yann Ehrlacher, Tom Chilton, Mehdi Bennani and Ma Qing Hua. The young drivers from the Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup may have finished last in the points, but enjoyed a spirited game of soccer with the students ahead of the contest. The team was made up of Joel Eriksson, Callum Illot, Jehan Daruvala, Maximilian Günther, Zhou Guanyu, Devlin Defrancesco, Sacha Fenestraz, Mick Schumacher, Pedro Piquet, Ferdinand Habsburg.
The Suncity Group 64th Macau Grand Prix gets underway tomorrow morning (Thursday, November 16), with practice and qualifying sessions, and continues until Sunday.
