Photo: F3esmedia

Macau victory for Daniel Juncadella

Today, Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam) celebrated the biggest victory of his motorsport career to date. At the 6.12 kilometres long Guia Circuit, the Spaniard won the 58th Macau Grand Prix, one of the world’s most prestigious Formula 3 races. After an action-packed race, Marco Wittmann (Signature) finished third behind Felipe Nasr (Carlin). Thus, a driver from the Formula 3 Euro Series wins the race in the former Portuguese colony for the third year in a row.

In the opening stages, Signature driver Marco Wittmann looked all-set for a success. Starting from pole position, he took the lead and was able to hold on to this position after the first safety car intervention that was caused by a startline collision. Euro Series’ champion Roberto Merhi (Prema Powerteam) had stalled at the start, Laurens Vanthoor (Signature) wasn’t able to avoid the Spaniard’s car in time and thus collided with Daniel Abt (Signature). At the second re-start following an accident by Felix Rosenqvist (Mücke Motorsport), Wittmann had to let four drivers past on the run up to the Lisboa corner, including Daniel Juncadella, who moved up into the lead. In the following laps, Wittmann made it back into the top 3, but a final safety car phase with two laps remaining stopped his progress.

Daniel Juncadella (Prema Powerteam): “Winning the Macau Grand Prix is an incredible feeling, I didn’t expect this. I have never cried as much as when this win was safe. The second safety car phase was my luck. Another important thing was to stay out of trouble in the first few laps and not to take too many risks.”

Marco Wittmann (Signature): “I am very disappointed, because I could have done better. My start was good and I was still in front after the first safety car phase. At the second restart, I didn’t have a chance to keep my position. After that, I pushed to close up again, but unfortunately, then a third safety car phase followed that blew my chances of victory.”

Kimiya Sato (Motopark): “My start was really good and I was already in the top six. On the run up to the Lisboa corner, a driver hit my car from behind as he locked up under braking. I am really angry. The speed was definitely enough for a top ten finish. Now, I am only twelfth.”