Macau Grand Prix newsletter

FORMULA 3 MACAU GRAND PRIX
FIA FORMULA 3 INTERCONTINENTAL CUP

Formula 3 Euro Series

Signature's Edoardo Mortara, 23, has been crowned the 2010 F3 Euro Series champion, after his sixth-place finish at Oschersleben in early September gave him an unassailable lead over his only remaining rival, Marco Wittmann, who finished one place behind him in Round 15.

With the season finale at Hockenheim still to come, Mortara, the reigning Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix champion, may yet add to his six series wins so far, al-though the Italian was reveling in his championship title.

"It is great that I am the new champion," Mortara said. "I was already very happy with my victory at Macau last year, [and] this suc-cess is one stop higher. Through-out the year, we have been able to win races and claim pole posi-tions."

While Mortara clinched the series title, Round 15 was domi-nated by two-time Masters of For-mula 3 winner Valtteri Bottas (ART Grand Prix), fifth in Macau last year, who won by a 22.141 sec-ond margin. Rounding out the Round 15 podium was Bottas' teammate Alexander Sims, 18th in the 2009 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix, and Motopark Academy's Antonio Felix da Costa.

In the second race at Oscher-sleben, it was Frenchman Jim Pla (ART Grand Prix) who earned his first Euro Series victory. Although Mucke Motorsport's Carlos Muñoz led for most of the race, Pla pres-sured the Colombian, who then ran into the gravel trap with two laps remaining and retired. In 2009, Pla finished second in the Formula BMW Pacific race at the Macau Grand Prix.

Cooper Tires British F3 International Series

Carlin driver Jean-Eric Vergne, 20, was crowned the 2010 Cooper Tires British F3 Inter-national Series champion after taking his 12th victory of the sea-son at Silverstone in August. Vergne is the first French British F3 champion, while Carlin won its third title in as many years.

Red Bull Junior Vergne will join F1 team Scuderia Toro Rosso for the young driver test at Abu Dhabi in November and is ex-pected to step up to the Renault World Series in 2011.

Vergne clinched the title with six races to go in the series, and followed up his championship vic-tory with a 13th win at Snetterton two weeks later.

Making full use of his Silver-stone experience, Vergne also scored his first Formula Renault 3.5 victory in only his second meeting in the category. Having crossed the finish line second, Vergne was awarded the victory after Esteban Guerrieri was ex-cluded for a technical infringe-ment. In the second race at Silver-stone, Vergne finished third be-hind Guerrieri and Red Bull Rac-ing test and reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo.

In 2010 Cooper Tires British F3 International Series season finale at Brands Hatch, Fortec's Oliver Webb drove a perfect race, securing his third win of the sea-son in Round 28.

Webb's Fortec teammate Daniel McKenzie scored his sec-ond win of the season in Round 29, winning the sprint race. Carlin driver James Calado finished fifth in the race and secured the runner-up position in the championship.

Calado continued his strong form to win the final race of the season, Round 30, winning the race by eight seconds over Hitech Racing driver Will Buller.

Japan Formula 3 Championship

TOM's driver Yuji Kunimoto has been crowned the 2010 All Japan Formula 3 champion, with the 19-year old dominating the series this season. Although his winning streak was broken in Oka-yama after 10 wins, Kunimoto's victories gave him enough of an advantage to take the 2010 title.

Kunimoto has twice visited Macau. First in 2008, where he finished 5th in the Formula BMW Pacific race. In 2009, Kunimoto raced in the headline Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix, where he fin-ished 9th overall.

The younger brother of 2008 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix win-ner Keisuke, Kunimoto was un-stoppable for the first half of the season. In Rounds 11 and 12 in Okayama, Kunimoto's teammate Rafael Suzuki won his first two races of the year.

In the season's penultimate rounds at Sports Land Sugo, Su-zuki continued his late success, winning his third race in a row, ahead of Hanashima Racing driver Hideki Yamauchi and Kunimoto. Yamauchi won his first race of the season in Round 14, with Denso Team Le Beausset driver Koki Saga second and Suzuki in third.

ATS Formel 3 Cup

With just two rounds remain-ing of the 2010 ATS Formel 3 Cup, HS Technik Motorsport's Tom Dillmann of France leads Van Amersfoort Racing driver, German Daniel Abt, by a mere nine points. With 24 points still on offer, Dill-mann and Abt are the only two drivers still in the running for the 2010 championship title. Motopark Academy driver Kevin Magnussen of Denmark sits in third, although with Dutchman Stef Dusseldorp (Van Amersfoort Racing) just four points behind, the battle for third will be a thriller.

FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
GUIA RACE OF MACAU

With just two races remaining until the 2010 FIA World Touring Car Championship (FIA WTCC) season finale at the 57th Macau Grand Prix, 2008 champion and Chevrolet driver Yvan Muller leads BMW's Andy Priaulx by 25 points, with reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini with SR-Sport a further four points behind.

The FIA WTCC's most recent meeting at Valencia resulted in complete triumph for home team SEAT, as SR-Sport's Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro won both races. Tarquini's win re-launched the campaign of his title defense.

In Race 1, Tarquini domi-nated the field claiming his fifth win of the season from the Chev-rolet pair of Yvan Muller and Rob Huff.

With a brilliant overtaking on Andy Priaulx at the start of Race 2, Monteiro paved the way to his second victory of the year, leaving Muller, Tarquini and Priaulx bat-tling each other for second place in a duel that eventually could prove crucial for the title fight. Mul-ler finished second, with Tarquini third.

Series-leader Muller's results have been both consistent and impressive, with the Frenchman earning his 10th and 11th podiums in 18 races in Spain.

With 100 points still on offer, including 50 at the 57th Macau Grand Prix, just four drivers re-main in the title chase: Muller, Pri-aulx, Tarquini and Chevrolet's Rob Huff.

The championship will re-sume on October 31 in Okayama, Japan for Rounds 19 and 20 be-fore heading to the Macau Grand Prix for the sixth straight year for the season finale.

Four Japanese Drivers Join Okayama Races

Masataka Yanagida, No-buteru Taniguchi, Yukinori Ta-niguci and Yoshihiro Ito are set to take part in Rounds 19 and 20 in Okayama.

"The WTCC is a world class event and I would like to put on a good show for the fans. I am de-termined to do my best against the foreign drivers to compete ," said Yanagida, who is a regular front runner with in the GT300 class of Japan Super GT Series.

MACAU MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

Duke Road Racing Rankings 2010

Ryan Farquhar continues to lead the 2010 Duke Road Racing Rankings, well ahead of rivals Wil-liam Dunlop and Michael Dunlop. Familiar Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix faces Ian Hutchinson and Keith Amor, who will be part of the 44th Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, round out the top five.

Farquhar, the defending and four-time winner of the Duke Road Racing Rakings, concluded his Irish road racing season with a treble at the Killalane road races. His victories have put him 2000 points ahead of his closest rivals.

For the first time this year, the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix has been added to the rankings, which score riders over different road races throughout the season to determine the overall road rank-ings winner.

British Superbikes Update

The penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Silverstone shook up the overall standings with dramatic races and mixed results for teams and drivers.

Six-time Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix champion Michael Rut-ter, who will be back to contest a record-breaking seventh win in 2010, is fifth overall with Riders Ducati. Rutter had mixed results at Silverstone, winning the first race, but crashing out of the second.

Defending Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix winner Stuart Easton, who will look at making it three in a row in 2010, is ninth overall in the championship, finishing 17th in race one and recording a DNF in race 2.

The season finale at Oulton Park will take place on October 8-10.

João Fernandes secures po-dium finish at Pan Delta Super Racing Festival

Macau rider João Fernandes finished fourth and second in the two races of the third and final weekend of the Superbike 1000 at the Pan Delta Super Racing Festi-val in Zhuhai, China, ahead of racing in November's 44th Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix.

-source: macugp