Top race returns looking to continue the legacy

The “Queen” of all Macau races, the Formula 3 (F3) World Cup is finally back in the GP program after three years of absence due to Covid-19 restrictions.

This year as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the race, the F3 continues its legacy of being the stepping stone for junior racers around the globe to launch themselves into higher challenges and, eventually, the Formula One.

With entries featuring some rising stars of the FIA F3 Championship, which ended back in September this year, as well as some already famous names of Guia Circuit who have been racing in other championships this year, the F3 World Cup aims to be more than an offseason test for drivers and teams, with Macau performances potentially opening some new doors into the sport.

The 70th anniversary of the event brings together nine teams from the FIA F3 Championship, with each entering three cars and, consequently, three drivers to the competition.

Back in 2019, Dutch Richard Verschoor won the first-ever Macau F3 race featuring what were new formula cars at the time.

Currently racing at the FIA Formula 2 Championship, where he occupies the ninth position of the standing with just one race to complete (at YAS Marina Circuit in UAE on the last weekend of November), Verschoor is returning to Macau to defend his title and attempt to follow in the footsteps of Edoardo Mortara, António Félix da Costa, Felix Rosenqvist and Dan Ticktum as a two-time F3 winner on the Guia Circuit.

This time the Dutchman will not be racing with MP Motorsport, but instead under the colors of Trident Motorsport.

Alongside Verschoor in Trident will be the Czech Roman Staněk, who is also racing at the F2 Championship. Completing the Trident trio will be the young American talent Ugo Ugochukwu.

The 16-year-old is a protégé of the McLaren F1 team and has won a total of 11 races this season in the UAE, Italian, and Euro 4 Formula 4 championships. He also claimed victory in the Euro 4 championship with Prema Racing.

Although he is set to continue with Prema for 2024 to compete in the Formula Regional European Championship (regional F3 specifications), Ugochukwu will be in Macau racing for the first time in the International F3 car, after only post-season testing of the 2023 FIA Formula 3 Championship with Rodin Carlin.

Also lining up to the Macau race will be Prema, an important name of all junior categories and particularly F3 but which somehow has not been able to win in Macau since Felix Rosenqvist took victory in 2015.

Representing the Theodore Prema alliance this year are Paul Aron, Dino Beganovic, and Gabriele Minì, who all starred in FIA F3 this year.

Estonian Aron is a junior driver for the Mercedes F1 team and is the younger brother of 2017 Formula 3 Macau Grand podium finisher Ralf Aron.

He finished third in the FIA F3 Championship this season and will be the highest-ranked driver from this championship to take part in the Macau race.

Swede Beganovic is linked to the Ferrari Driver Academy and finished 6th in the same FIA F3 Championship this year, just four points ahead of Minì.

Also coming from F2 is Red Bull Junior Zane Maloney, currently occupying the 10th position just behind Verschoor. He will be the first-ever racer from Barbados to race in Macau.

Maloney will be in a Rodin Carlin car and have as a teammate the two-time Macau champion Dan Ticktum.

Ticktum took victory in both 2017 and 2018 and returns in a bid to become the first-ever driver to win the race three times.

This year’s race will also see the return of German Sophia Flörsch, a famous name at Macau for regrettable reasons. Flörsch became famous when she had a major crash at Lisboa in 2018 where, fortunately, everyone involved survived to tell the story.

As always, Macau is a box full of surprises and this unpredictability is also a large part of what increases the thrill of the action of the F3 racing event.

After the first two sessions yesterday, the F3 cars go out on track today from 9:30 a.m. for the Free Practice 2, returning later at 3:05 p.m. for the Qualifying 2.

Races will be held on Saturday: the Qualifying Race (10 laps) at 3:50 p.m., and closing the program of the 70th edition of the Macau GP on Sunday at 3:30 p.m., the main race (15 laps).