Ferrari has won the FIA GT World Cup for the first time – and in impressive fashion. Antonio Fuoco, the reigning overall Le Mans winner, dominated the entire race weekend on the demanding Guia Circuit, securing victory in the main race after taking pole position and a qualifying win. For Fuoco and the Italian brand, it is the first overall victory at the prestigious GT event in Macau.
Behind the Ferrari works driver, Raffaele Marciello in the ROWE BMW M4 GT3 finished second. Although the previous year's winner kept pace well in the high-speed sector, he found no way to put pressure on the leading Ferrari in the tight city section. In the end, Marciello was just under four seconds behind.
The podium was completed by Laurin Heinrich in the Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R. However, the German is still under investigation for contact with Ayhancan Güven on the opening lap, which sent the Turk into the barrier.
The early phase of the race was marked by several incidents:
Alessio Picariello spun after light contact with Marciello and lightly hit the inside barrier, but was lucky his sliding car wasn't collected. More chaos unfolded at Lisboa corner as Güven spun into the tire barrier after colliding with Heinrich, and was subsequently hit by Luca Engstler and Dorian Boccolacci. Adderly Fong also suffered a puncture and had to pit.
Following the incidents, the Safety Car came out to clear the track. Towards the end of the race, an accident involving Edoardo Mortara caused a stir: the ten-time Macau winner crashed into the barrier after a technical defect in the Melco hairpin. However, due to the no-overtaking rule in this section of the track, race control decided against further neutralization.
Top 10 – FIA GT World Cup Macau:
- Antonio Fuoco – AF Corse – Ferrari 296 GT3
- Raffaele Marciello – ROWE Racing – BMW M4 GT3
- Laurin Heinrich – Schumacher CLRT – Porsche 911 GT3 R
- Joel Eriksson – Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom – Audi R8 LMS GT3
- Yifei Ye – Harmony Racing – Ferrari 296 GT3
- Sheldon van der Linde – WRT – BMW M4 GT3
- Christopher Haase – FAW Audi Sport Asia Team Phantom – Audi R8 LMS GT3
- Deng Yi – Winhere Motorsports – Ferrari 296 GT3
- Laurens Vanthoor – Absolute Racing – Porsche 911 GT3 R
- Benjamin Goethe – Optimum Motorsport – McLaren 720S GT3