Макао Гран-приісі: Авто және мотоспорт жарысы

Annual automobile and motorcycle race in Macau

The Macau Grand Prix (Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is an annual motorsport road racing event for automobiles and motorcycles held on the Guia Circuit in Macau. The event includes the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix and Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix title races, with other races for touring, grand touring, sports and Formula 4 cars. The first Macau Grand Prix was held in 1954 as a sports car event. In 1967, the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix was introduced. In 2008, a GT3 race was added to the event, which became known as the FIA GT World Cup. The Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix features many national Formula 3 champions and drivers from around the world, with the winner being awarded the FIA Formula 3 World Cup. Due to the challenging nature of the Guia Circuit, which consists of fast straights (a Formula 3 car can reach a top speed of at the end of the straight), tight corners and uncompromising crash barriers; the Macau Grand Prix races are considered some of the most demanding in the world. Many current or former Formula One drivers have participated in the event early in their careers and some of them have won the prestigious prize. Previous winners include Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Ralph Firman, Takuma Sato and Dan Ticktum.

The Macau Grand Prix was originally conceived in 1954 as a treasure hunt around the streets of the city, but shortly after, it was suggested that the hunt's track could host a racing event for local motor enthusiasts. Production car races joined the event in 1957, which were superseded by touring cars in 1972. In 1961, the title race became an open wheel Formula Libre event. The race continued as an amateur race until 1966, when Belgian driver Mauro Bianchi entered the race in an Alpine A220 (chassis #1722). Alpine Renault had also sent engineer Jean Paul Castilleux to assist Bianchi with technical aspects of the car. Bianchi's victory and exposure led to more professional racing teams entering the Grand Prix in the following years. The motorcycle race was introduced in 1967, and in that year the first fatal tragedy struck the race: double champion Dodjie Laurel was killed when he lost control of his car and crashed. This raised the alarm for more safety improvements for the race. Teddy Yip was one of the main forces behind the Macau Grand Prix back in the 1970s and 1980s, leading this Grand Prix to be one of the world's most famous motor racing events. The Macau Grand Prix parties he hosted for many years at his home also became a central part of the social aspect of the Grand Prix. Prize money at this time was not substantial, with 1980 winner Geoff Lees receiving thirty four dollars and 1981 winner Bob Earl receiving thirty six. In 1983, it was decided by the organisers that since Formula Pacific was becoming obsolete, the race would be held as a Formula Three event. Initially, they wanted to run a F2 race, but as they were unwilling to make any large circuit modifications, which included cutting down trees, the organisers decided to adopt Formula 3 cars for the feature race and it was sanctioned by FIA as the F3 World Cup title race. At the same time, Yokohama Tire was officially designated as the sole supplier of control tires for the competitors. This decision has seen the reputation of the event in the motorsport world increase rapidly, with the event attracting the best young drivers from Europe and Japan. The first F3 race was won by a young Ayrton Senna. The race in 1990 was a memorable one, as Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen were involved in an incident when they were in first and second going into the final lap. At the main straight just after the Mandarin Oriental Bend, Häkkinen hit the back of Schumacher's car and crashed out when he attempted to overtake him. Schumacher's car was able to continue with its rear wing damaged and eventually won the race with the best aggregate time. Other notable winners include Formula One drivers David Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher and Takuma Sato. Since the introduction of F3 races, the Macau GP has gradually become a stepping stone for many F3 drivers to higher class motor racing competitions such as the FIA Formula 2 Championship and Formula One. However, only three drivers in the field in the 2010s Valtteri Bottas in 2011, Max Verstappen in 2014, and Charles Leclerc in 2015—who have started this race have won a Formula One race, and 1995 was the last time a Macau Grand Prix winner won a Formula One race. The event received world championship status from 2005 to 2014 as the final round of the World Touring Car Championship.

The Macau Grand Prix race weekend normally starts on the Thursday and ends on the Sunday on the second or third week of November. The first two days (Thursday and Friday) are generally scheduled for practice and qualifying. All races are held on Saturday and Sunday, with the final rounds of the heavyweights Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix and the Touring Car Guia Race (the final 2 rounds of the World Touring Car Championship), as well as the FIA GT World Cup, held on the last day. Both the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix and the Guia Race are sanctioned by the FIA and the winner of the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix is awarded the FIA World Cup. Apart from the two major races held at the race weekend, the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix is also one of the highlights of the weekend since it features former or current racers of the Superbike World Championship and stars of Britain's legendary open road motorcycle races such as the Isle of Man TT. Newly introduced into the 2007 race Macau GT Cup is the race for GT3 category cars. Since 2015 the winner of the race is awarded the FIA GT World Cup. Over the years, the Macau Grand Prix's Guia Race for touring cars had belonged to the Asian Touring Car Championship, and the current GT Cup race was once the Supercar Cup for road going exotic sports cars., the Formula Renault race, the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia race, the scooter race for locals and in the past but on a less than frequent basis, a Jackie Chan endorsed race for celebrity women drivers (partnered with pro racers) involving Mitsubishis, with whom Chan hold a sponsorship deal.

The society of Macau is developing rapidly. During every edition of the Grand Prix, traffic in the outer harbour area becomes severely disrupted. In 2007, politician Stanley Au Chong kit pointed out that the Macau Grand Prix should be suspended as it wastes money and brings negative impacts to locals. Meanwhile, affairs commentator Tam Chi Keung suggested to move the Grand Prix event to Cotai. Later, in 2020, former president of the Macau SAR Sports Bureau Manuel Silverio also suggested to move the Macau Grand Prix to Cotai instead during an interview of TDM Canal. “It might be the appropriate time to use a new circuit. For instance, in Cotai, so that it can relieve a great amount of pressure for visitors and locals.” This suggestion never happened as he wasn’t the president of the bureau anymore.

Due to travel restrictions, foreign racers and riders were not able to attend the 67th edition of the Grand Prix, making the event downgraded to “Greater Bay Area only”. The Motorcycle Grand Prix was cancelled, and visitors to Macau were lower than expectations. However, the Macau SAR Government persisted in holding the Grand Prix using 250 million patacas which caused dissatisfaction among local people. The Macau SAR Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture and the president of the Macau Grand Prix Organising Committee (MGPOC) Ao Ieong U refused to answer questions from local media. The Macau SAR Sports Bureau issued a press release stating that holding the Macau Grand Prix doesn’t only proves that the government is confident in pandemic prevention, and also the determination to promote post epidemic economic recovery. Holding the Macau Grand Prix could show the demonstration of Macau’s anti epidemic results to the world, restoring tourists’ confidence and intention to travel to Macau, and drive the tourism, hotel and catering industries. It also hoped to promote the recovery of the construction, transportation and automobile maintenance industries through the linkage effect of the Grand Prix, thus boosting the economy, creating jobs, increasing employment for citizens, and minimising the impact of the epidemic on society and people's livelihood. The Sports Bureau believed that holding the Macau Grand Prix is meaningful to Macau, therefore hoped the society and citizens to understand and fully support the event.

The first title race was held in 1954 as a sports car race. In 1961 the title race switched to the Formula Libre till 1974, when Formula Pacific came into play. 1983 was a start of the new era with the introduction of the Formula 3 rules, which attracted drivers from European Formula 3 championships and the Japanese Formula 3 Championship. 2019 introduced the Dallara F3 2019 machinery, with the entrants—all of them from the FIA Formula 3 Championship—using equal cars and engines for the first time. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the title race was run as a part of China's Formula 4 championship with exclusively local drivers and teams, as the COVID 19 pandemic forced travel restrictions on international FIA F3 drivers and teams.

The first Guia Race for touring cars was held in 1972. The event was notable in that very few touring car races were held on street circuits at the time. From 2005 to 2014, the race became the final two rounds of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. In 2015 and 2016, the category was replaced by the TCR International Series. WTCC then returned as the Suncity Group Macau Guia Race in 2017. From 2018 to 2019, the races were replaced by the new FIA World Touring Car Cup. Since then, Macau had never held any rounds of the WTCR anymore due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The Macau Guia Race was replaced by the TCR Asia Challenge in 2022. The local pandemic was over at the beginning of 2023, which made international racers and teams be able to compete there again. The 2023 Macau Guia Race was held by the Kumho TCR World Tour. Starting from 2008, the Macau Touring Car Cup was added in the calendar. It has been the final round of the China Touring Car Championship since 2022.

Macau is a special event for motorcycle riders. The Motorcycle Grand Prix has featured notable top level riders, with winners of the race including MotoGP World Champion Kevin Schwantz, Superbike World Champion Carl Fogarty, notable MotoGP rider Ron Haslam and Isle of Man legends Michael Rutter, Michael Dunlop, and John McGuinness. Because of the street circuit nature, the course is closer to the legendary British open road races than a regulation MotoGP circuit. In 2014, the award winning documentary Macau Gladiators by German director Andreas Knuffmann appeared. The movie is about the 2013 edition of the Motorcycle Grand Prix and followed the Team of Frank Heidger with the German Didier Grams (8th place) and his Belgian teammate Marc Fistette (DNF).

The Macau GT Cup was added in 2008, and has been one of the most important supporting races of the Grand Prix since then. The FIA GT World Cup is a race for GT3 spec cars, organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and the Automobile General Association Macau China (AAMC). The event was confirmed by the FIA at the World Motor Sport Council in Geneva on 20 March 2015. The winning driver of the event is the winning driver of the Main Race, but the award for the FIA GT World Cup for Manufacturers is presented to the manufacturer supplying the cars with a manufacturer entry with the highest number of points after addition of the points of its two best cars awarded according to the result of the Main Race. Starting in 2017, there is an age limit for drivers; drivers may be no older than 59 years 364 days, as bronze level drivers are prohibited from participation. (Under FIA driver grading rules, any driver over 60 is a bronze driver, regardless of his accomplishments). In 2020 to 2022, the Macau GT Cups were not held by the FIA GT World Cup due to the local pandemic of COVID 19. It then returned in 2023. In 2018 the Greater Bay Area Lotus Cup was added to the GP events. This was a single make race with all competitors driving a Lotus Exige. The race was a joint promotion between Automobile General Association Macao China (AMMC), Hong Kong Automobile Association (HKAA) and Zhuhai Motorsports Association. The drivers were from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. Except the Macau GT Cup, the Greater Bay Area GT Cup has been on the calendar since 2019, which replaced the Greater Bay Area Lotus Cup. The race includes talented GT drivers mainly from the Greater Bay Area. In 2023, it was separated as the GT3 and GT4 Cups.