Hickman leads on the first day

In the 55th edition of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, the event started as expected with the Brit Peter Hickman (BMW M1000RR) placing the best lap of the Free Practice (FP) session yesterday.

Hickman clocked a 2m28.389s, enough to lead the pack, a time that, nonetheless, was a slower pace compared to 2019, when the same Hickman clocked a 2m28.007s at the end of Day 1.

Taking into account the evolution suffered by the motorcycles, this could mean that the best is yet to come and most of the riders have taken the opportunity of the only FP session for the motorcycles to acquaint themselves with Guia turns after (for most) three years of absence.

If Hickman’s dominance was already expected, the partial surprise of the day goes to the Brit Davey Todd (BMW M1000RR) who took second best behind Hickman and ahead of last year’s winner Erno Kostamo (BMW S1000RR) with a lap time of 2m29.653s, with an almost 1.3s gap from Hickman.

Kostamo clocked his best lap in 2m29.939s which again, is a faster time than last year’s FP but still very far from his best lap last year when he rode around Guia in 2m27.493s.

Today, motorcycles and riders enter the decisive stage of the race with the Qualifying sessions that will decide the grid positioning for tomorrow’s race.

As usual, motorcycles will be the first out on track at 8:00 a.m. for the Q1, returning later in the day to close the program with the Q2, scheduled for 4:10 p.m.

The winner of the 55th Macau Motorcycle GP will be decided in a 12-lap race to start at 8:40 a.m. on Saturday.