Macau. In a repeat of his result in the qualification race,
Augusto Farfus (BRA) of BMW Team Schnitzer finished fourth again in
the actual FIA GT World Cup in Macau (CHN) on Sunday. Last year’s
winner, at the wheel of the #42 BMW M6 GT3, was in contention for a
podium place at times during the 18-lap race. Joel Eriksson (SWE)
climbed two places to finish seventh for FIST-Team AAI in the #91
car. Victory at the legendary ‘Guia Circuit’ went to Raffaele
Marciello (ITA, Mercedes).
Starting from fourth on the grid, Farfus immediately set about trying
to improve his position. At the re-start following a safety car
period, caused by a crash involving Porsche driver Kevin Estre (FRA),
he took his opportunity and overtook Earl Bamber (NZL, Porsche). The
New Zealander took third place back from him shortly after however,
the order then remaining the same right through to the finish.
Eriksson gave an excellent display and a flawless race on his first
appearance in the BMW M6 GT3 in Macau.
BMW Team Schnitzer and Farfus now turn their attention to the next GT
highlight this coming week. BMW is set to make its motorsport return
to South Africa in the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Farfus will be
joined in the BMW M6 GT3 by Martin Tomczyk (GER) and local favourite
Sheldon van der Linde (RSA) at Kyalami (RSA). Walkenhorst Motorsport
will race with a further two BMW M6 GT3s.
Two BMW M4 GT4s were also in action at the Macau Grand Prix. Hei Chan
(Son Veng Racing Team) and Pei Wen Qi (Team AVM) finished fifth and
seventh in the Greater Bay Area GT Cup on Sunday morning.
Reactions to the FIA GT World Cup in Macau.
Augusto Farfus (#42 BMW M6 GT3, 4th place):
“There was nothing more we could have done today. We needed a
good start to immediately make progress through the field. However,
the Porsche drivers were clever and managed to stay in front of me.
After that, it was tough for me to match the pace of the
front-runners. I took a bit more of a risk at the re-start after the
safety car period and was able to briefly take third place. However, I
then braked a little too late coming into Lisboa, and found myself
back in fourth as a result. It would have been tough to keep Earl
Bamber behind me for the rest of the race anyway. If somebody had told
me after the first practice sessions that we would finish fourth here,
I would have taken that straight away. As it stands, we are a little
disappointed now. You always want to make it onto the podium. Despite
that, we can be proud of our performance. I would like to thank the
whole team at BMW Team Schnitzer. We now move on to Kyalami.“
Herbert Schnitzer jr. (Team Manager BMW Team Schnitzer):
“The start went as we had expected; the Porsche drivers were
clever. Over the course of the race, we saw that we did not quite have
the performance of the leading group this weekend. However, Augusto
certainly produced a great display. The qualification race, in
particular, was fantastic.”
Joel Eriksson (#91 BMW M6 GT3, 7th place):
“I am pretty happy. That was pretty much the best we could
have hoped for this weekend. My pace was good in today’s race. This
was my first race weekend with a GT car in Macau, and I was close to
Augusto’s level. I obviously still have some learning to do in a GT
car here, but on the whole it has been a positive experience.”
Jun-San Chen (Team Principal FIST-Team AAI): “We may
not have made it onto the podium, but we can be very happy with the
result. Joel Eriksson did a fantastic job.”