Strong Entry for FIA F3 World Cup at Macao 06.10.2016: Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup The Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix

Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup

The Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup is building up, with a fantastic entry of many of the world’s leading up-and-coming stars set to fight it out around the streets of the famous Guia Circuit from 17-20 November.



Top talents from the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and Japanese Formula 3 Championship have been invited to race, where they will fight it out over three days of practice, qualifying and the Qualification Race before they are let loose over 15 laps of the legendary 6.2km street circuit on Sunday in the all-important Grand Prix.



These contenders are joined by a number of other leading names from the international motorsport world, as is traditional in Macao, and topping the list is undoubtedly Felix Rosenqvist, who returns in a bid to win an unprecedented third successive Macao title.



As he did in 2015, Swedish driver Rosenqvist will race with SJM Theodore Racing by Prema, after a season where he has shown incredible versatility. His second victory in Macao lined him up for a remarkable 2016 that has featured success in the USA in the Indy Lights Championship, an impressive IndyCar test, race victory in the Blancpain Sprint Cup for Mercedes, and also a starring role when he joined Mercedes’ DTM squad.



In addition, he makes his FIA Formula E Championship debut this weekend in the opening round of the new season.



Joining Rosenqvist on the team, whose Dallara-Mercedes cars are run from Italy by the Prema Powerteam company, are Nick Cassidy and Maximilian Günther.


New Zealander Cassidy joined Rosenqvist on the 2014 Macao podium when he finished third, while speedy German Günther is currently second in the European championship with four race wins, and is looking forward to his first visit to Macao.


Another driver looking to continue his F3 success is Kenta Yamashita. The winner of the 2016 Japanese F3 Championship with TOM’S, Toyota protégé Yamashita has made a tantalising move to the British ThreeBond with T-Sport team for Macao, where he will be powered by the ThreeBond-badged Tomei engine. He is joined at the team by Macao’s own Andy Chang Wing Chung, who will use the British NBE power unit.


Yamashita’s regular team TOM’S is also in action, and will field a single Toyota-powered car for Sho Tsuboi. The 2015 Japanese Formula 4 champion, Tsuboi makes his first visit to Macao after finishing third in the Japanese F3 Championship.


The driver who ran Yamashita very close for the Japanese F3 title is also entered. Welshman Jann Mardenborough was disappointed to lose the crown at the final round, so will be bidding to make a strong impression on his Macao debut in his regular B-Max Racing Team car.


Another Nissan-contracted driver in the Volkswagen-powered team is Daiki Sasaki. The 24-year-old is a race winner this season not only in Japan’s prestigious Super GT series, but also in a brief appearance in Japanese F3.


From the same stable comes China’s Ye Hong Li after a season that included some promising results in Japanese F3. Neither driver has raced at Macao before.


Beyond Prema, most of the leading stars of the European championship are entered. George Russell currently lies third in the points with one round remaining, and the Englishman is hugely looking forward to his first Macao outing with the Silverstone-based Hitech GP team.


His two team-mates are DTM driver and 2011 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix winner Daniel Juncadella of Spain, and Macao rookie Russian Nikita Mazepin.


Another English driver, Callum Ilott, has been a race winner in the FIA European Championship this season and he leads the attack of Mercedes-powered Van Amersfoort Racing. Ilott made his Macao debut in 2015, and returns in a bid to put all he learned into practice this time around.


His two team-mates are both Macao newcomers, with Frenchman Anthoine Hubert also a race winner in the European series and Brazilian Pedro Piquet – son of three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet – following in the footsteps of his brother, Nelson Jr, who competed in Macao in 2003 and ’04.


Another driver with a sibling who has raced in Macao is Joel Eriksson, whose brother Jimmy contested the Grand Prix in 2011 and ’12. The Swedish BMW Junior Team prospect heads an all-rookie line-up from the very strong German team Motopark, which uses Volkswagen engines.


Joining him are Finnish Red Bull Junior Niko Kari – who like Eriksson has won in European F3 this year – and China’s Ferrari Driver Academy prospect Zhou Guan Yu.



Also using Volkswagen engines is famed British team Carlin. The team brings exciting British talent Lando Norris, winner of this season’s Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula Renault Northern European Cup and Toyota Racing Series, and also a victor in BRDC British Formula 3.


Norris, who will celebrate his 17th birthday just a week before Macao, is making his debut in FIA F3 competition. He is joined by GP3 Series race winner Jake Hughes and China’s Peter Li Zhi Cong, who returns to competition after a racing accident in May and brings Guia Circuit experience to the team’s line-up.



Two Mercedes-powered UK teams – Double R Racing and Fortec Motorsport – return to Macao. Tsingtao / Double R Racing gives Spa 24 Hours winner Alexander Sims, third in the race in 2015, his return to F3 competition.


Fortec will run Scottish driver Sam MacLeod, who came so close to a Macao podium last year, and Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg, a race winner in the Euroformula Open series, which uses a F3 chassis.


At the age of just 16 and a half, diminutive German David Beckmann looks set to be the youngest driver in the field with Kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport after a very promising European F3 season.


Bringing the engine competition to six in the FIA Formula 3 World Cup is Toda, which brings highly rated Japanese F3 rookie Tadasuke Makino for his first visit to Macao in his Toda Racing entry.


Elevated this year to FIA World Cup status, for the world’s leading up-and-coming young drivers, the stakes have never been higher as they prepare for the Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix!




2015 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix


1.    Felix Rosenqvist    SWE    SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam    Dallara Mercedes

2.    Charles Leclerc    MON    Van Amersfoort Racing    Dallara Volkswagen

3.    Alexander Sims    GBR    Double R Racing    Dallara Mercedes



Fastest Lap: Sérgio Sette Câmara / Motopark / Lap 15 / 2:10.186 / 169.23 km/h



 

- PR Plus Hong KOng - also photo