R-ace GP’s Ugo Ugochukwu won the qualifying race in Macau, guaranteeing him pole position for Sunday’s main race. MP’s Oliver Goethe finished second and Pinnacle’s Noel León finished third. Rain started to fall halfway through the race, triggering a red flag. The majority of the 10-lap race was run under the safety car due to deteriorating weather conditions and incidents on track.

By Kaylene Lau

Saturday’s qualifying race sets the grid for the main race on Sunday. Ugo Ugochukwu started the race from pole position after setting the fastest time across Thursday and Friday’s incident-filled qualifying sessions. 

James Wharton received a three-place grid drop last night after making contact with Jin Nakamura, sending the Japanese driver into the barriers at R. Bend. Wharton would start the race in 14th. 

Light drops of rain began falling on the circuit just before the race started. The race was delayed by half an hour.

A stall on the formation lap forced Mari Boya to start the qualifying race from the back of the grid. Boya had qualified fourth yesterday. 

Ugochukwu and Goethe both had good launches off the start. Goethe was slightly ahead near Reservoir, but Ugochukwu pulled ahead at Lisboa and managed to build a gap.

“The start was not bad, but he [Goethe] managed to get alongside,” Ugochukwu said about the start in the post-race press conference. “I was able to keep the lead in T3 which was crucial.” 

“It was definitely a close start,” Goethe said. “I think I got a bit of a better launch off the line. Then T1 is to the left, so I gained a little bit of distance there. For Mandarin, I kept it flat all the way up, but on the inside you just do less distance, and there’s a bit more grip there. So Ugo managed to get that bit more, and then have the inside line for braking – so there was not much I could do, really at the start.” 

On the first lap, León, who started third, had contact to the rear of his car from Freddie Slater. 

“When we arrived at Lisboa, I got hit [from] behind. I almost ended in the wall,” he said. 

Starting from 15th, Beganovic made up two places on the first lap, overtaking Colnaghi and Nakamura. His qualifying session ended prematurely yesterday after being involved in a multi-car pileup along with TGM’s Rintaro Sato and his teammate Alex Dunne. Dunne managed to overtake Colnaghi with a daring move on the inside for 14th.  

A safety car was deployed after TGM’s Sota Ogawa and R-ace GP’s Tuukka Taponen hit the wall near Mandarin. Two laps of the race were completed under the safety car. 

A black flag was waved for Boya after the safety car restart — disqualifying him from the race, as he had overtaken on the formation lap when he entered the pit lane to begin the race. 

Wharton was originally given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for overtaking on the formation lap – but ART appealed, and it was accepted. He finished eighth but will start the main race tomorrow in seventh after compatriot Cooper Webster was given a five-second penalty. 

Ugochukwu led Goethe at the restart, pulling away from the German driver almost instantly and setting multiple purple sectors. Ugochukwu managed to extend his lead soon after with the fastest lap of the race, 1.3 seconds ahead of Goethe.

Slater went deep at Lisboa while battling Enzo Deligny for fourth, and moments later, Théophile Naël went up the escape road at Lisboa after contact with Evans GP’s Cooper Webster. He rejoined the race just in front of Dunne, and the Irishman braked just in time to avoid another collision. Naël, who was running in sixth before the contact with Webster, dropped down to 12th. Webster received a five-second penalty and will subsequently start Sunday’s race in 15th. 

Slater managed to overtake Deligny before a second safety car was called on lap five, as Colnaghi had stopped near Lisboa. Weather conditions started to change on lap six, with light rain falling on the circuit.

Ugochukwu said that under dry conditions in the first few laps, the car was feeling ‘really good.’ But as it started to rain, conditions became a bit more difficult. 

“It started to drizzle a bit, which made things interesting – made them very tricky into the first braking zone, which is already quite bumpy, and you have to brake really late. With those slippery conditions, it was even harder. So I just tried to stay within the limit and not make any mistakes.” 

Similarly, León said that the wet conditions made it difficult in the first sector before the session was red-flagged as the rain started to intensify. 

“It was really tricky. Obviously, every lap was darker on that section, so at some point there [sic] will be some drops of rain.” 

“I saw that Ollie and Ugo were kind of battling, so I was going to push a bit more. But then when we arrived there [sector one], I just locked up my wheels, because it was super damp. So yeah, really tricky that lap. It was really difficult because [it] was the only section [that] was wet. The rest you can push flat out.” 

As the session was suspended, all the drivers headed back to the pits and were told to put on wet tyres for the remaining three laps.

The race restarted under the safety car and remained until the end of the race. Lisboa was the only section that was heavily affected by rain, with the rest of the track being bone dry. The qualifying race ending under the safety car guaranteed Ugochukwu pole for Sunday’s main race. Goethe finished second, and León finished third. Slater, in his first race in Formula Regional cars, finished fourth. 

In the post-race press conference, the top three drivers said that Macau’s status as a historic track and its difficulty would make a win tomorrow extremely special. 

“I think winning Macau is super special, this track is super historic,” Ugochukwu said. 

“You know, it has a good story to it. The circuit hasn’t changed much throughout the years, so like I said, it would be really special to win around here. Being close to the limit with all the high-speed sections, and yeah, even in the racing, to be able to pull it off, be consistent throughout the race, and to not make any mistakes with the slipstream with a really long straight – it’s quite tricky to defend. I think to bring it home around here would be really special for me.” 

“I think it would mean everything to me to win this race,” Goethe added. “It’s just such a special event, to be honest. Historically, there’s been so many amazing drivers that’s been here – that’s won here, so to win would just be an amazing feeling. To win is really difficult, as well as to be able to qualify so close to the front, you have to be really on the limit and keep out [of] the walls throughout the entire weekend. “ 

“For me, it would be the same,” León said. “It’s such a special circuit, it’s such a special event. We normally race in Europe together, winning in Macau is such a special [moment] for your career. [It] means, means a lot. So yeah, I love this place, I love this track, and yeah, for me, would be very very grateful. I would be really grateful for winning and it would be great to close the year with a win in Macau.”

Sunday’s race will start at 15:30 local time. Rain is not expected for tomorrow’s race.

Header photo credit: Macau Grand Prix Organising Committee