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Formula 3 News
Nine out of ten
What a success! The result of the Formula 3 world finale, the prestigious Macau Grand Prix, was the proof of a clear supremacy of the Volkswagen engine. “The fact that nine of the ten drivers who made it to the top -10 did so by dint of power provided by Volkswagen and Spiess is truly impressive,” said Holger Spiess on the occasion of the presentation ceremony on 21st November. It nearly goes without saying, that the overall winner, Edorado Mortara, also was a Volkswagen driver.
The Italian was the dominator of the 57th Macau Grand Prix. At the 6.12-kilometre street circuit of the former Portuguese colony that is a Chinese special economic area, today, Mortara won both the qualifying race on Saturday and the feature race on Sunday. In front of the jam-packed grandstands, the 23-year old even made for a premiere: Mortara is the first driver in the history of the event to successfully have defended his title. At the end of the 15-lap race, he crossed the finish line with a 2.120-second lead over his Belgian team-mate Laurens Vanthoor (both Dallara-Volkswagen) who finished runner-up. While third place was secured by Valtteri Bottas (Dallara-Mercedes). But despite making it to the podium, the Finn never had a chance of winning the most prestigious Formula 3 race on our planet.
Meanwhile, Daniel Abt – the runner-up in the 2010 ATS Formula 3 Cup – delivered in fine style in his Macau debut. At the end of the day, the 17-year old didn’t finish the race but had held the lead when being forced into retirement due to a contact with a wall. “It goes without saying that I’m annoyed because of this incident but altogether, the delight about the great weekend outweighs the frustration,” he revealed. “The atmosphere here in Macau is just unique: so many spectators and journalists – it’s a huge spectacle.” From his third position on the grid, the German worked his way up to second before the race was neutralised by the safety-car. And right after the re-start, the young-gun once again displayed his aggressive approach by passing Mortara for the lead.
