Engel wins bittersweet Macau GT Cup

Maro Engel (front)

German driver Maro Engel extended his list of triumphs in Macau this weekend winning both races of the Macau GT Cup.

Despite the impressive outcome, the wins have left a bittersweet flavor. Accidents marred both races, disrupting their normal course. Race two saw its total number of laps severely reduced, with most of the laps occurring in slow-driving mode behind the safety car.

At the wheel of a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo from Craft-Bamboo Racing, Engel also benefited from a strange incident that occurred during race one on Saturday. Polesitter Edoardo Mortara in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II suddenly jumped from the grid and inadvertently followed the safety car when the red lights were still showing to the drivers.

The incident delayed the start for five minutes. Mortara received a penalty that forced him to remain in the grid while the field moved forward to the formation lap.

Starting from last position, Mortara benefited a little from an incident involving four cars on turn one that forced the race to stop and ruled out four competitors including Darryl O’Young, Adderly Fong, Cheng Cong Fu, and Min Heng. The incident enabled Mortara to start a recovery that took him to fourth position.

After a lengthy delay, the race restarted behind the safety car, and Engel and fellow Mercedes driver Raffaele Marciello sprinted away.

Mortara still attacked Ling Kang in third position in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo, but Ling defended his position well.

In yesterday’s race two, Marciello was the quickest at the greenlight and jumped ahead of Engel, but eventually ended his race prematurely, going off track at the hairpin bend. This paved the way for Engel to win the second race without a challenge. When the safety car prompted drivers to return to the pits, there was very little of the race left to complete. Mortara finished second in race two, while the third spot on the podium went to Alexandre Imperatori in a Porsche 911 GT3 R.