Dan Ticktum takes back-to-back Macau GP victory

Photo: Macau Grand Prix

Dan Ticktum took his second successive Macau Grand Prix victory, in a race-marred by a high-speed shunt for Sophia Floersch.

Motopark driver Ticktum converted pole into the race lead on the opening lap, while Carlin?s Sascha Fenestraz used his four fresh tyres to sweep past both his team-mate Callum Ilott and Ticktum’s team-mate Joel Eriksson to snatch second place.

The safety car was required when Marino Sato, Alex Palou, Charles Leong and Keyvan Andres collided at Lisboa, and the?race was red flagged three laps later on the restart when Van Amersfoort Racing’s Floersch was launched over TOM’S driver Sho Tsuboi at Lisboa at the same corner and breaching the catch fencing.

Floersch is ?conscious? and has been taken to hospital along with Tsuboi, as well as ‘three further individuals, two photographers and one marshal’, according to a statement from the FIA.

Eriksson passed Fenestraz for second on the restart after the one-hour red flag delay, but was unable to catch Ticktum, who handled another safety car restart when Hitech GP driver Enaam Ahmed crashed. In the latter part of the race, Ticktum starting setting fastest laps, pulling away to?become the third driver to retain his Macau crown in the past decade.

“I don’t think I ever prepared as hard for a race as this. I’ve never felt so involved or at one with a car before,” Ticktum said after victory.

Eriksson took second with Fenestraz completing the podium, beating Asian Formula 3 championship leader Jake Hughes, European F3 champion Mick Schumacher, and his Prema Theodore Racing team-mate Ralf Aron.

Juri Vips was one of the biggest losers on the opening lap, dropping to 10th?from seventh on the grid, but was able to claw his way back to seventh place, ahead of??Ilott, who sank down the order in the second part of the race.

Prema’s Macau rookies Marcus Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman completed the top 10, with 2017 Macau star Ferdinand Habsburg finishing 11th, ahead of Guan Yu Zhou, who charged from 24th to 12th. Ritomo Miyata was the best of the Japanese F3 contingent, two places further back.

Race results