Motorcycle GP | Hickman’s surprising first-time win

Peter Hickman

Peter Hickman was the overall winner of the 49th edition of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, which took place on Saturday afternoon at the Guia Circuit.
The British rider had already performed well during the qualifying sessions on both Thursday and Friday. He started to take control on lap nine after starting from third position on the grid, making his way up the ranks with a steady and powerful performance.
Hickman made his move to pass Martin Jessopp, the leader at the time, while braking for the Lisboa Bend. From that moment onwards, Jessopp was unable to keep up with the new leader’s pace, although he would persist in attempting to overtake Hickman until the chequered flag.
Hickman’s first-time win on the Guia Circuit sets two new records: being the first rider to win on only his second run and also being the first ever BMW motorcycle to win the Grand Prix.
Martin Jessopp, who started from pole and dominated the first two-thirds of the race, had to settle for second place in a year were things were finally looking bright for him to achieve his goal and take one step higher up the podium – something that he has come close to many times before. However, it was still not his time, and he had to content himself with second place.

Eight time winner Michael Rutter

Third place went to Michael Rutter, the historic record holder for number of wins in Macau. Although he finished third, this was still an achievement that did not come easy. In a lively battle, Rutter was under constant attack from John McGuinness, Gary Johnson and Ian Hutchinson.
These results also show, for the first time, not only a BMW winning the race but a full podium composed of riders for the German manufacturer.
“It feels absolutely fantastic! This is only my second time in Macau. I’ve not been doing the road racing scene for very long, but my British Superbike championships have been pretty strong the last couple of years. It’s fantastic to be able to transfer between the two,” Hickman said.
“I was on the Dunlop tyres and [Jessopp and Rutter] were on different, so we knew that we were going to be strong for the second half of the race, and I figured that Martin was going to pull away in the first five or six laps and then hopefully we’d come back to him. Fortunately, the plan worked,” he added.
As for the performance of McGuinness, the rider who is considered to be the most successful road racer of his generation, he provided some great final thrills. After time away from the spotlight in Macau since his last win back in 2002, he overtook Gary Johnson on the outside of the tarmac at Dona Maria in a move that completed his weekend of exceptional racing and won him the fourth position.