2018 FIA GT World Cup

The 2018 FIA GT World Cup was confirmed as being held during a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council on 9 March following a contract extension with race organisers to stage the event in the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macau.[3][4] Occurring on the 6.120 km (3.803 mi) 22-turn Guia Circuit in the streets of Macau, on 18 November 2018 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying, it was the fourth staging of the race and the eleventh GT3 event in Macau.[2][5] The race was promoted by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation working with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA);[6] the SRO was appointed by the promoter Associação Geral Automóvel de Macau-China to form a field of cars.[7] In accordance with the event regulations, the manufacturers' championship was presented to the manufacturer of the car of the winning participant.[8] Tyre manufacturer Pirelli was nominated by the FIA as the race's control tyre supplier for the fourth year in succession.[9]

In order to enter the race, drivers had to compete in a FIA-regulated championship race based on GT3 regulations over the prior two seasons or have significant experience in Grand Touring (GT) cars. Only platinum or gold racing license holders could enter with silver ranked drivers eligible on a case by case basis at the FIA GT World Cup Committee's discretion. Bronze rated competitors were not allowed to compete.[10] Entries were open from 6 July to 31 August.[11] The FIA released the entry list on 18 October.[12] A total of 15 drivers representing 11 different nationalities in five separate manufacturers,[N 1][13] and series such as the ADAC GT Masters and the Blancpain GT Series formed part of the entry list.[12][14] Three former FIA GT World Cup winners in Maro Engel, Laurens Vanthoor and Edoardo Mortara and the 2007 Macau Grand Prix winner Oliver Jarvis were among the entrants.[12][14]

The FIA imposed a balance of performance to ensure a high level of parity.[7] The Audi R8 LMS had 10 kg (22 lb) of ballast added while the BMW M6 GT3 received a weight decrease of 10 kg (22 lb) but its turbocharger boost was reduced. The Mercedes-AMG GT3 received an increase in handling with a 20 kg (44 lb) loss in ballast but lost performance with its air restrictor lowered in size by 1 mm (0.039 in). The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 debuted in Macau weighing in at 1,305 kg (2,877 lb) and the Porsche 911 GT3 R received no performance changes.[15]

Raffaele Marciello set the fastest lap in qualifying to start from pole position.

Two half an hour practice sessions were held before the race on 18 November: the first on the afternoon of 15 November and the second on the morning of 16 November.[5] Robin Frijns in the No. 66 Team WRT Speedstar Audi R8 LMS lapped fastest in the first practice session at 2 minutes, 18.588 seconds,[16] ahead of Mortara, Christopher Haase, Augusto Farfus and Earl Bamber with the first five representing four manufacturers.[17] The session was stopped for separate accidents at the Melco hairpin.[16] Dries Vanthoor, Frijns' teammate, struck the wall on the outside and lost control stopping sideways across the circuit with damage to his car's front-left bodywork and the spoiler removed. Mathieu Jaminet was unsighted and crashed into the wall sustaining minor damage to his car's left door while attempting to avoid Dries Vanthoor before Farfus was required to stop.[15][18] In the second practice session, four manufacturers again occupied the first five positions as Bamber set the fastest lap in the No. 912 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R at 2 minutes, 17.436 seconds with three minutes left after adjustments and tyre changes. Engel, Frijns, Laurens Vanthoor and Farfus followed in positions second through fifth. The session concluded early when Haase lost control of his vehicle and damaged it in a collision with the barrier at the R Bend turn.[19][20]

Friday afternoon's half hour qualifying session determined the qualification race's starting order through each driver's fastest lap times.[5][10] Conditions were cool for qualifying.[21] On his second race in Macau,[22] Raffaele Marciello in the No. 999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 achieved pole position by becoming the only driver to go below 2 minutes, 17 minutes with a 2 minutes, 16.8 seconds time on his final timed lap.[23][24] It was his second pole position in Macau following his first at the 2013 Macau Grand Prix.[6] Marciello demoted Farfus from pole to second,[23] although the latter went faster with 2 minutes remaining.[25] Engel took third and Mortara was fourth to make it three Mercedes in the first four positions following late-session improvements and a battle between both drivers.[23][24][25] Manthey's Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor were fifth and sixth leading the trio of Audi drivers of Frijns, Haase and Dries Vanthoor in positions seven through nine. Jaminet qualified tenth. Alexandre Imperatori in 11th was followed by the Hong Kong duo of Adderly Fong and Darryl O'Young in 12th and 13th.[1] Jarvis was 14th in his first Macau race since winning the 2007 Macau Grand Prix and Tsugio Matsuda qualified 15th to complete the starting order.[25] During qualifying, Frijins outbraked himself at Lisboa corner and crashed into the barrier, requiring a localised yellow flag to extricate him with less than three minutes to go.[23][26]

Qualifying classification

Final qualifying classification Pos. Class[13] No. Driver Team Manufacturer Time Gap 1 P 999  Raffaele Marciello (ITA) Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-Benz 2:16.800 – 2 P 42  Augusto Farfus (BRA) BMW Team Schnitzer BMW 2:17.357 +0.557 3 P 888  Maro Engel (DEU) Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-Benz 2:17.422 +0.622 4 P 1  Edoardo Mortara (CHE) Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing Mercedes-Benz 2:17.431 +0.631 5 P 912  Earl Bamber (NZL) Manthey Racing Porsche 2:17.717 +0.917 6 P 911  Laurens Vanthoor (BEL) Manthey Racing Porsche 2:17.848 +1.048 7 P 66  Robin Frijns (NLD) Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar Audi 2:18.042 +1.242 8 P 28  Christopher Haase (DEU) Audi Sport Team Rutronik Audi 2:18.579 +1.779 9 G 88  Dries Vanthoor (BEL) Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar Audi 2:18.674 +1.894 10 G 991  Mathieu Jaminet (FRA) Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche 2:19.249 +2.449 11 G 18  Alexandre Imperatori (HKG) KCMG Nissan 2:19.321 +2.521 12 G 77  Adderly Fong (HKG) Zun Motorsport Crew Audi 2:20.000 +3.200 13 S 55  Darryl O'Young (HKG) Craft-Bamboo Racing Porsche 2:20.337 +3.537[N 2] 14 P 35  Oliver Jarvis (GBR) KCMG Nissan 2:20.411 +3.611 15 P 23  Tsugio Matsuda (JPN) KCMG Nissan 2:21.710 +4.910 Source:[1]

Categorisation Icon Class P Platinum G Gold S Silver

Augusto Farfus won both the qualification and the main race to achieve his first victory in Macau since 2009.

The qualifying race to set the starting order for the main race commenced under overcast conditions of 23 °C (73 °F) at 13:05 Macau Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on 17 November.[5][10][28] Matsuda failed to start because smoke bellowed from the front of his car as the formation lap began.[29] Farfus made a better getaway from Marciello to move into the lead on the outside into Mandarin Bend corner.[29][30] Almost immediately, the safety car was deployed for an three-car collision.[31] Laurens Vanthoor and Mortara collided entering Mandarin Bend turn as the latter was defending from the former and Bamber on both sides. Mortara swerved to the right as Bamber executed a similar manoevure, causing the contact with Laurens Vanthoor that caused Vanthoor to lose control of his car sending it into a half spin and crash into the outside barrier sideways and back across the circuit.[21][29][32] Laurens Vanthoor was unhurt.[21][33] Two laps were completed under safety car conditions to enable the removal of Laurens Vanthoor's car from the circuit before it was withdrawn for the restart on the third lap.[30][33]

Farfus waited late to return the field to racing speeds, having taken longer than usual steering from side to side in his car on the back straight before the final turn.[29][31] He made a clean getaway and extended his lead to a second over Marciello by the conclusion of the third lap,[31] and he subsequently extended it to 2​¹⁄₂ seconds.[29] On lap seven, Marciello set the race's fastest lap of 2 minutes, 17.989 seconds to briefly threaten a comeback but Farfus immediately reacted by lapping ​²⁄₅ of a second faster than the former on lap eight and subsequently by seven-tenths of a second on the ninth lap, resetting the fastest lap to a 2 minutes, 17.987 seconds in the process.[29] Thereafter, Farfus could incrementally increase his lead even as Marciello and his teammate Engel were faster in the track's mountain section,[31] and achieved victory in the 12-lap qualification race for pole position in the main race by 3.812 seconds over Marciello in second position.[29][30][33] The last classified finishers were Engel, Mortara, Bamber, Frijns, Haase, Dries Vanthoor, Jaminet, Imperatori, Fong, Jarvis and O'Young.[1]

Qualification Race classification

Final classification of the qualifying race

Pos.	Class[13]	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired
1	P	42	Augusto Farfus (BRA)	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	12	29:35.782
2	P	999	Raffaele Marciello (ITA)	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing	Mercedes-Benz	12	+3.812
3	P	888	Maro Engel (DEU)	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing	Mercedes-Benz	12	+5.022
4	P	1	Edoardo Mortara (CHE)	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing	Mercedes-Benz	12	+5.706
5	P	912	Earl Bamber (NZL)	Manthey Racing	Porsche	12	+6.296
6	P	66	Robin Frijns (NLD)	Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar	Audi	12	+13.102
7	P	28	Christopher Haase (DEU)	Audi Sport Team Rutronik	Audi	12	+13.652
8	G	88	Dries Vanthoor (BEL)	Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar	Audi	12	+14.232
9	G	991	Mathieu Jaminet (FRA)	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Porsche	12	+21.393
10	G	18	Alexandre Imperatori (HKG)	KCMG	Nissan	12	+25.067
11	G	77	Adderly Fong (HKG)	Zun Motorsport Crew	Audi	12	+28.790
12	P	35	Oliver Jarvis (GBR)	KCMG	Nissan	12	+32.084
13	S	55	Darryl O'Young (HKG)	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Porsche	12	+41.794
Ret	P	911	Laurens Vanthoor (BEL)	Manthey Racing	Porsche	0	Accident
Ret	P	23	Tsugio Matsuda (JPN)	KCMG	Nissan	0	Engine
Source:[1][29]

The race commenced in overcast conditions at 12:25 local time on 18 November.[5][28] Laurens Vanthoor was withdrawn from the event because of damage sustained to the chassis of his car in his first lap accident with Mortara in the previous day's qualification race forcing his second consecutive weekend-ending crash.[34] From pole position, Farfus made a brisk start and steered to the inside to maintain the lead from Marciello entering the first turn.[35] Maricello put pressure onto Farfus into Lisboa corner but was unable to effect an overtake and settled into second position.[36][37] Behind Farfus and Maricello, Mortara and his teammate Engel were third and fourth with Bamber fifth.[36] On the second lap, Bamber made contact with the barrier at the Solitude Esses but continued without sustaining damage to his vehicle.[37][38] By the conclusion of the lap, Farfus opened up a lead of more than one second ahead of Marciello.[35] Following the opening four laps, Marciello drew close to Farfus and was able to put pressure on the race leader by following him closely. Marciello was able to lap faster in the circuit's mountain sections although he could draw close enough to Farfus and attempt an pass.[35][36] On the eighth lap, Marciello ran deep by braking too late for Lisboa turn and hit the barrier while attempt to turn into the corner.[37][38] He returned to the track without necessitating the yellow flags and fell to tenth position.[32] The accident promoted Engel to second who took up the chase of Farfus.[36]

Engel frequently employed light flashing to try and distract Farfus,[35] as he remained within a second of the latter who countered the pace of the former with BMW's straightline speed over Mercedes-Benz's throughout most of the remainder of the event.[36][37] On lap 11, Matsuda overtook O'Young for 13th position as Marciello passed Imperatori for 9th place and Jaminet moved past Dries Vanthoor into 7th position on the following lap.[1] Engel made an error braking for the Melco hairpin with two laps left, increasing Farfus' lead.[39] After 18 laps, Farfus led every lap to achieve his first victory in Macau since the 2009 Guia Race of Macau, his fourth in Macau and his first GT win on the Guia Circuit.[37][40] BMW became the third manufacturer to clinch the FIA GT World Cup.[41] Engel followed 0.981 seconds later in second,[36] with his teammate Mortara third after an early race error at the Police bend and his car lacking downforce and pace.[35][41] Bamber in fourth was the final car in the lead pack,[38] and the highest-placed Audi driver was Frijns in fifth who was two seconds ahead of brandmate Haase in sixth, giving four manufacturers representation in the top five. Macau debutants Jaminet and Dries Vanthoor were seventh and eighth with Marciello ninth and Imperatori the highest-finishing Nissan participant in tenth. Fong, Jarvis, Matuda and O'Young were the final finishers.[37][40] Only three overtakes occurred on the circuit during a race which saw no caution periods.[32][37]

Main Race classification

Final classification of the main race

Pos.	Class[13]	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired
1	P	42	Augusto Farfus (BRA)	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	18	41:45.992
2	P	888	Maro Engel (DEU)	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing	Mercedes-Benz	18	+0.981
3	P	1	Edoardo Mortara (CHE)	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing	Mercedes-Benz	18	+1.823
4	P	912	Earl Bamber (NZL)	Manthey Racing	Porsche	18	+3.283
5	P	66	Robin Frijns (NLD)	Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar	Audi	18	+4.549
6	P	28	Christopher Haase (DEU)	Audi Sport Team Rutronik	Audi	18	+6.588
7	G	991	Mathieu Jaminet (FRA)	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Porsche	18	+20.504
8	G	88	Dries Vanthoor (BEL)	Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar	Audi	18	+21.449
9	P	999	Raffaele Marciello (ITA)	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing	Mercedes-Benz	18	+23.009
10	G	18	Alexandre Imperatori (HKG)	KCMG	Nissan	18	+31.147
11	G	77	Adderly Fong (HKG)	Zun Motorsport Crew	Audi	18	+41.960
12	P	35	Oliver Jarvis (GBR)	KCMG	Nissan	18	+43.391
13	P	23	Tsugio Matsuda (JPN)	KCMG	Nissan	18	+1:03.531
14	S	55	Darryl O'Young (HKG)	Craft-Bamboo Racing	Porsche	18	+1:08.268
DNS	P	911	Laurens Vanthoor (BEL)	Manthey Racing	Porsche	0	Accident[N 3]
Source:[1][32]

• 2018 Macau Grand Prix
• 2018 Guia Race of Macau

• Official website