At Macau this afternoon, Edoardo Mortara (Signature) finally claimed
the prize he's been hankering for since this time last year, winning the
Macau Grand Prix by a narrow margin from team-mate Jean-Karl Vernay. In
3rd, after a last minute overtaking move on Marcus Ericsson (Tom's), and
a broken wheel for Valtteri Bottas (ART), was Sam Bird (ART Grand Prix),
the winning threesome among the 16 cars that actually made it to the
finish of a race that started with wholesale destruction.
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Podium: race winner Edoardo Mortara, Signature. Photo by xpb.cc.
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The start of the race was a few minutes late, a major miracle
given the mayhem of both FBMW and WTCC races. With Wayne Boyd (Hitech
Racing) not taking part today, we were down to 28 drivers, but it was
amazing how much chaos they managed to cause. Initially it all looked
as if things would go smoothly, with Vernay making a great start, as
did the other two Signature drivers, Mortara snatching the lead, while
Bottas settled into 2nd and Ericsson fell back to 4th. And that was
when it all fell apart, after Laurens Vanthoor made a mess of Lisboa,
and took out Max Chilton (Carlin). Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo (Carlin)
clipped the barrier at Sao Francisco, and then ended up in the wall at
Solitude. Various members of the chasing pack were clearly unsighted as
they came on the scene of the Australian's accident, with the result
that several other runners piled into him, blocking the track. The
resulting carnage involved another of the Carlin runners, Brendon
Hartley, as well as Daniel Zampieri (Prema Powerteam), Stefano Coletti
(Prema Powerteam), Alexandre Imperatori (KCMG by Kolles & Heinz Union),
Jake Rosenzweig (Fortec Motorsport), Michael Ho (Champ Motorsport/Manor
Motorsport) and Daniel McKenzie (Fortec Motorsport). With the track
completely blocked, a red flag was inevitable and those that could
limped back round to the pits to see if repairs could be effected, while
the others were hauled away.
Given how much damage had already been done, the officials took the
decision to start the race behind the Safety Car this time, with
the race to run 14 laps now. It was probably wise to take no more
chances today, especially if they actually wanted to finish the race in
daylight! And so, the remaining runners lined up on the grid in a very
straggly formation, and the Safety Car eventually led them round for a
lap before pulling into the pits and letting the race go live with just
19 out of the original 30 cars running. As the pack crossed the line it
looked as if Mortara might have done enough to hold the lead, but Vernay
challenged him and was close enough to slipstream past as they headed
through Mandarin. Mortara fought back but he couldn't take it back from
his teammate; Vernay may well be a Macau rookie but his three seasons of
F3 were standing him in good stead as he held off the Italian, setting
the first of what would be a series of fastest laps on his run to the
flag. Elsewhere, Vanthoor was dead last at the start but at least he'd
made it back out despite his first lap incident. And now he was on the
move, gaining a place already. Bottas, meanwhile, was 3rd now and looked
as if the pace of the Signature cars might prove too much for him; his
hope had to be that the lead two would clash and hand the victory to
him, though he was still pushing hard as they screamed round to start
lap 4.
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Start action prior to red flag. Photo by xpb.cc.
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Vernay was still pushing hard, while Bird was busy fighting off Roberto
Merhi (Manor Motorsport) as he tried to hang onto 5th. Yuji Kunimoto
(NOW Motor Sports) had wrestled his was through to 10th, while Jules
Bianchi (ART), who had somehow avoided all the mayhem at the first
attempt to start the race was taking advantage of the mid-field sort out
and was up to 15th. All eyes were focussed on the front though, where
Vernay's best efforts were proving insufficient to shake off Mortara,
the Italian looming large in his mirrors, and setting the latest fastest
lap of the race as he did so.
A lap later and Mortara decided his chance had come, as he took a look
hard look at Lisboa, jinking to the inside to try and force a way
through. Vernay, however, was having none of it and responded firmly,
despite Mortara setting another fastest lap. Behind the two of them,
Bottas had his hands full with Ericsson, the Swede taking a look up the
inside and trying to find a way past the Finn while Bird's attention
was still occupied with Merhi. Meanwhile, Bianchi was still gaining
ground and had despatched Koki Saga (Le Beausset Motorsports) with
ease. Meanwhile, Alexander Sims (City of Dreams/R?ikk?nen Robertson
Racing) dropped right down the order after an unscheduled trip up the
escape road at Lisboa after he tried and failed to pass Kei Cozzolino
(Toda Racing). By the time Sims got going again everyone had passed by.
A lap later, and the lap record took another beating, this time from
Vernay (2:10.792) as he continued to resist his team-mate's efforts to
wrest the win from him. Mortara kept closing the gap but Vernay would
then pull away again, flinging his Dallara into the corners with enough
opposite lock that you feared tyre wear might prove his undoing before
the end. It was very close at the front as they went through Moorish and
Dona Maria, and Mortara came close to outbraking himself as they headed
into Melco, giving Vernay a moment of relief before his rival recovered.
Meanwhile Ericsson was closing up on Bottas again, and in the middle
of the pack, Bianchi was still continuing on his way and had claimed
11th now. His next target was Kunimoto, but the Japanese was quite a
way ahead and it would be a while before Bianchi could even think about
getting into the top 10. Just for good measure, Vanthoor had also made
up more ground, and was now running in 15th.
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Jean-Karl Vernay, Signature. Photo by xpb.cc.
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With well over half the race run, Vernay was soaking up the pressure,
and sliding the car round with abandon, making Mortara's life pretty
difficult. He still hadn't given up though; it would only need the
slightest error on Vernay's part and his team-mate would be through.
Bottas was still 3rd and had opened up a bit of a gap now to Ericsson,
while Ericsson could see Bird in his mirrors, but didn't have too much
to worry about yet. Bird's life had become considerably quieter when
Merhi started to come under pressure from Takuto Iguchi (Tom's), the two
of them well ahead of Renger van der Zande (City of Dreams/R?ikk?nen
Robertson Racing), Mika Maki (Hitech Racing) and Kunimoto. Bianchi was
still 11th, from Victor Garcia (Fortec Motorsport), Carlos Huertas
(Manor Motorsport), Cozzolino, Vanthoor, Saga, Stef Dusseldorp (Kolles &
Heinz Union), Sims, and the lone Carlin survivor, Henry Arundel, who had
just been passed by Sims as the 2008 Autosport Young Driver award winner
recovered from his escape road moment. It wouldn't be long, however,
before Vanthoor found a way past Cozzolino and set off after Huertas.
On lap 12 everything changed. Mortara set a new lap record (2:10.732)
and closed right up on Vernay after the latter made a mistake with
his gear change at Melco, allowing Mortara to catch right up again.
Mortara moved to inside and used the slipstream to slingshot through in
a classic Lisboa overtaking move, and Vernay could do nothing but cede
the position. Meanwhile, Bird had closed right up on Ericsson, which
meant Bottas was left in peace for a while. It was more than Ericsson
was, "Small Person" Bird hacking past the Swede to snatch 4th, while
Sims continued to climb back up the order, passing Dusseldorp for 16th
with ease. And then everyone had to back off in the 3rd sector, after
Cozzolino crashed out at Black Sands, the driver leaping out and running
away to safety while the marshals wrestled his stricken car out of the
way. The flags weren't out for long, to the great relief of Mortara no
doubt; the last thing he would have wanted now was a Safety Car period
to allow Vernay time to regroup, not after he'd done the work needed to
snatch the lead.
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Edoardo Mortara, Signature. Photo by xpb.cc.
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With two laps to go, Mortara was looking reasonably comfortable, as
Vernay, though he clearly hadn't given up, couldn't quite get on terms
with the leader. He had one more chance and as they tore round towards
Lisboa for the last time, he kept to the right, trying desperately to
find a way past. It was no use, and he had to settle back in to 2nd for
what was left of the race. Behind him, Bottas had hit trouble with a
wheel problem, and was passed first by Bird, and then by Ericsson, while
Merhi spun out of 6th, handing the place to Iguchi. Sims also vanished
with less than two minutes to go, leaving just 16 finishers still
running at the end of a race that started out more like a demolition
derby, but at least provided a thrilling battle for the trophy. And so,
the winner of the 56th Macau Grand Prix was Mortara, from Vernay, Bird,
Ericsson, Bottas, Iguchi, van der Zande, Maki, Kunimoto and Bianchi.
11th was Garcia, from Huertas, Vanthoor, Saga, Dusseldorp and Arundel.
The last two classified runners were Merhi and Sims, both a lap down
after final lap crashes.
Afterwards, Mortara was delighted to have won a "very, very hard race,"
and hoping that it will help revive the flagging momentum of his career
after a less than impressive GP2 season. "So many things are going
through my head I don't know where to start. I feel so, so emotional
because I had such a difficult season this year, with so many ups and
downs. I came here because VW phoned me to ask me to do the race, and
I am sure some people were not 100% sure that I was able to do it.
Actually, today, I proved that I am still competitive. After such a
difficult season, to be on top again is unbelievable. It shows that you
should keep fighting, and I am really proud of this victory especially
after this difficult season in GP2. Before I came here I think everybody
was thinking that I was pretty much dead, so re-opening my career with a
victory in Macau will for sure help me."
Vernay, unsurprisingly, was bitterly disappointed, though he did his
best to hide it on the podium. Afterwards, though, he was not happy
with himself: "I was really pushing 150% but I knew that I couldn't
make a mistake. I was really at the limit because I wanted to win. But
when you are at the maximum like that, at some point you will make a
mistake, and that is what happened. Yes for sure it is a good weekend,
but when you are leading 12 laps of a 15 lap race and you lose the
victory because of a mistake you can be angry. For sure it was a good
weekend, though. I am really happy for the team, they did a great job
and the car was fantastic as we were quicker than the other teams.
And with Edoardo we did a good job to finish P1-P2 - that is the most
important thing from the weekend. I'll come back next year for sure if I
have the possibility."
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Podium: race winner Edoardo Mortara, Signature, with second place Jean-Karl Vernay, Signature, and third place Sam Bird, Art Grand Prix. Photo by xpb.cc.
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Bird, meanwhile, was thrilled to finally make it onto the Macau podium:
"Thank God for that! I thought I was going to get one last year and then
didn't and I've waited a long, long time to get here... I love this
place! I know I only came third, and I know the other two guys were a
long way ahead, but for me this is fantastic. I was heartbroken last
year because I was taken out almost before the race had even started.
I was in third place and Roberto Streit put me in the wall before the
Mandarin corner. I felt last year I had the speed to challenge Mortara
for victory, but it wasn't to be. So I came back this year hoping to
win. I didn't win, but after the difficult weekend I've had, my team
ART and Mercedes have pulled through. I made a mistake behind Ericsson
early in the race and there was a huge gap, so at that point I needed
to really get my head down and the team were screaming down the radio
- Sam push! Sam push! Sam push! I gritted my teeth and went for it at
every corner of every lap. When I overtook Marcus I was screaming down
the radio, I was so fired up with adrenaline. It was fantastic. It was a
really enjoyable race." He could even spare some sympathy for team-mate
Bottas. "It was a shame for Valtteri. He drove a brilliant race. He has
been extremely quick all weekend, and I can only say that he must be
extremely upset so I will give him a hug when I get back to the pits.
What else can I say? Finishing on the podium is fantastic for me."
Fastest lap of the race, and a new F3 lap record, went to Mortara.
Weather: Cool, sunny, dry.
