Augusto Farfus celebrates second place with BMW Art Car #18 in Saturday’s race in Macau – Chaz Mostert finishes fifth.

Macau. In a turbulent FIA GT World Cup qualifying race in
Macau (CHN), BMW Team Schnitzer’s Augusto Farfus (BRA) claimed a
podium position by finishing second. At the wheel of the
18th BMW Art Car, created by Chinese artist Cao Fei, he
crossed the line behind race winner Edoardo Mortara (ITA, Mercedes).
Chaz Mostert (AUS), driving for FIST – Team AAI, came fifth in the
#90 BMW M6 GT3.

 

Following a chaotic first lap at the “Guia Circuit”, only eight
drivers were fighting for victory in the end. A total of 12 cars
suffered severe damage in a mass collision, forcing their drivers to
retire from the race including Marco Wittmann (GER, FIST – Team AAI)
and Tom Blomqvist (GBR, ROWE Racing). After the re-start Farfus gained
another position after having improved from sixth to third before the
first-lap incident thanks to a great start.

 

The main race at the FIA GT World Cup is scheduled for Sunday at
12:10hrs local time.

 

Reactions on the qualifying race in Macau:

 

Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Direktor): “Second
place for our BMW Art Car #18 – that is a great starting position for
tomorrow’s race here in Macau. Augusto Farfus and BMW Team Schnitzer
have done a superb job over the entire weekend and have been
consistently in the top positions. In today’s qualification race,
Augusto also had the required luck to not be involved in
the collision. The key was his great start and then after the re-start
he didn’t make a single mistake. The same goes for Chaz Mostert who
finished his first ever race in Macau in a strong fifth position. It
is a pity of course for Marco Wittmann and Tom Blomqvist who both
retired on the opening lap through no fault of their own. We now have
to analyse how heavily their cars are damaged.”

 

Augusto Farfus (#18 BMW M6 GT3, BMW Team Schnitzer,
2nd place):

“Macau is a special place. The walls are extremely close so I put a
lot of energy into getting a good start – and it worked out. When I
saw the three Mercedes going side by side into Mandarin I said: ‘This
is my chance’ and I was able to get P3 at the end of the straight when
braking into Lisboa. Then everybody saw what happened. This is Macau.
Everything can happen at every corner. It is great to be P2. We didn’t
really expect this. When I was here the last time with Schnitzer in
the world touring car days, we won. Now we are back, and have a good
chance tomorrow.”

 

Chaz Mostert (#90 BMW M6 GT3, FIST – Team AAI, 5th place):

“Obviously a lot of cars were involved in the accident and crashed
out. I was very lucky to stay out of the drama. It was good that I had
some race laps afterwards. I feel I’m making improvements out there
every lap. Overall I’m super happy. Saying I have a P5 from Macau is fantastic.”

 

Marco Wittmann (#91 BMW M6 GT3, FIST – Team AAI, DNF):

“The start and the first lap were very good. I had already gained
four places. Then we came to corner seven or eight, and I was actually
in the middle of the big collision. It’s very disappointing to have
the race finished like that. The car is heavily damaged. The impact
for all of us was pretty hard. Luckily we are all alright. Losing, I
don’t know, five, six, seven or eight cars in a GT World Cup is frustrating.”

 

Tom Blomqvist (#99 BMW M6 GT3, ROWE Racing, DNF):

“First of all I didn’t have quite as good a start as I was hoping,
losing a few positions. And then just approaching Police Corner I come
around and other cars were already standing there. I don’t think the
marshals had time to react unfortunately and now a lot of cars are
damaged and potentially won’t be racing tomorrow. It’s a big shame. We
have to wait and see to get a full picture of the car.”