Antonio Giovinazzi
Nick Cassidy
With a full 28-car grid, all the big names of the F3 are set to fight for the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 Intercontinental Cup. The selection of race heroes is ready to hit the Guia circuit from tomorrow up until Sunday.
The top contenders from the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and All-Japan Formula 3 Championship will compete throughout three days before the most coveted 15 laps on Sunday.
Leading the entry list is, no doubt, the 2014 winner Felix Rosenqvist, who returns to Macau as the newly crowned FIA F3 European Champion with the Italian-based SJM Theodore Racing by Prema Powerteam. The Swedish national will proudly carry the lead as he bids to even Edoardo Mortara, who is so far the only two-time winner of the Macau F3 Grand Prix over its 32 years of existence.
Rosenqvist will also hope to take another win for Theodore, the team set up by the late Teddy Yip and revived by his son Teddy Jr in 2013. But he will not be the only one carrying the hopes of the Mercedes-
powered Theodore/Prema team. Britain’s Jake Dennis and Canada’s Lance Stroll will prove a very strong team on their first visit to Macau. Dennis is a multiple race winner in European F3 this season, while Stroll has shone in his rookie F3 season and represents the hopes of Ferrari through the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Leading the pack from Japan is the successful Toyota-powered TOM’S team, which has won the GP more times than any other team.
Kenta Yamashita and New Zealander Nick Cassidy are two key names to remember. Just a month ago, Cassidy collected the season winner trophy of the All-Japan F3 Championship in 2014, and there is little doubt that he wishes to replicate this success a second time. Yamashita lost the championship to Cassidy but he is still keen to show he can beat him in Macau.
Mitsunori Takaboshi is the other All-Japan F3 title contender returning with B-Max Racing Team, which also uses Toyota engines. Yuhi Sekiguchi, who won the All-Japan title in 2011 and finished fourth in the same year’s Macau GP, joins Takaboshi.
Rosenqvist’s closest rivals in European F3 this year are Italian Antonio Giovinazzi and Monegasque Charles Leclerc, both of whom are on the Macau entry list to complicate Rosenqvist’s challenge. The championship runner-up Giovinazzi leads the hopes of British squad Jagonya Ayam with Carlin, with a competent candidate in the Volkswagen-engined team from the American Gustavo Menezes. The Carlin line-up features two young English Macau rookies: George Russell and Red Bull Junior Callum Ilott.
Leclerc, who won the European F3 rookie title in 2015, spearheads the challenge of the Dutch-based, Volkswagen-powered Van Amersfoort Racing team and has already shown his race-winning form on street circuits this season. He is joined by his regular teammate, Italian Alessio Lorandi, as newcomers to Macau.
As usual, there are as many possibilities as there are serious title contenders, yet only one will came out on November 22 as the new King of Macau.
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