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| Macau Grand Prix | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 澳門格蘭披治大賽車 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 澳门格兰披治大赛车 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Portuguese name | |||||||||||
| Portuguese | Grande Prémio de Macau | ||||||||||
| Guia Circuit | |
 | |
| Race information | |
|---|---|
| Number of times held | 71 |
| First held | 1954 |
| Most wins (drivers) |  John MacDonald (4) |
| Circuit length | 6.120 km (3.803 miles) |
| Race length | 91.800 km (57.045 miles) |
| Laps | 15 |
| Last race (2024) | |
| Pole position | |
| Podium | |
| |
| Fastest lap | |
| |
TheMacau Grand Prix (Portuguese:Grande Prémio de Macau;Chinese:澳門格蘭披治大賽車;Jyutping:ou3 mun2 gaak3 laan4 pei1 zi6 daai6 coi3 ce1) is an annualmotorsportroad racing event for automobiles and motorcycles held on theGuia Circuit inMacau. The event includes the Formula Regional and Motorcycle Grand Prix title races, with other races fortouring,grand touring andsports cars.
The first Macau Grand Prix was held in 1954 as asports car event. In 1967, the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix was introduced.[1] In 2008, aGT3 race was added to the event, which became known as the FIA GT World Cup.
The Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix featured many nationalFormula 3 champions and drivers from around the world, with the winner being awarded the FIA Formula 3 World Cup.
Due to the challenging nature of the Guia Circuit, which consists of fast straights (a Formula 3 car can reach a top speed of 275 km/h (171 mph) at the end of the straight[2]), tight corners and uncompromising crash barriers; the Macau Grand Prix races are considered some of the most demanding in the world.[by whom?] Many current or formerFormula One drivers have participated in the event early in their careers and some of them have won the prestigious prize. Previous winners includeAyrton Senna,Michael Schumacher,David Coulthard,Ralf Schumacher,Ralph Firman,Takuma Sato andDan Ticktum.
The Macau Grand Prix was originally conceived in 1954 as a treasure hunt around the streets of the city,[3] but shortly after, it was suggested that the hunt's course could host a racing event for local motor enthusiasts.Production car races joined the event in 1957, which were superseded bytouring cars in 1972.
In 1961, the title race became anopen-wheelFormula Libre event.
The race continued as an amateur race until 1966, when Belgian driver Mauro Bianchi entered the race in an Alpine A220 (chassis #1722).[4] Alpine Renault had also sent engineer Jean-Paul Castilleux to assist Bianchi with technical aspects of the car.[5] Bianchi's victory and exposure led to more professional racing teams entering the Grand Prix in the following years.
The motorcycle race was introduced in 1967, and in that year the first fatal tragedy struck the race: double championDodjie Laurel was killed when he lost control of his car and crashed. This raised the alarm for more safety improvements for the race.Teddy Yip was one of the main forces behind the Macau Grand Prix back in the 1970s and 1980s, leading this Grand Prix to be one of the world's most famous motor racing events. The Macau Grand Prix parties he hosted for many years at his home also became a central part of the social aspect of the Grand Prix.[citation needed] Prize money at this time was not substantial, with 1980 winnerGeoff Lees receiving thirty-four dollars and 1981 winnerBob Earl receiving thirty-six.[6]
In 1983, it was decided by the organisers that sinceFormula Pacific was becoming obsolete, the race would be held as aFormula Three event. Initially, they wanted to run aF2 race, but as they were unwilling to make any large circuit modifications, which included cutting down trees, the organisers decided to adopt Formula 3 cars for the feature race and it was sanctioned by FIA as the F3 World Cup title race. At the same time, Yokohama Tire was officially designated as the sole supplier of control tires for the competitors.[7]
This decision has seen the reputation of the event in the motorsport world increase rapidly, with the event attracting the best young drivers from Europe and Japan. The first F3 race was won by a youngAyrton Senna. The race in 1990 was a memorable one, asMichael Schumacher andMika Häkkinen were involved in an incident when they were in first and second going into the final lap. At the main straight just after the Mandarin Oriental Bend, Häkkinen hit the back of Schumacher's car and crashed out when he attempted to overtake him.[8] Schumacher's car was able to continue with its rear wing damaged and eventually won the race with the best aggregate time. Other notable winners includeFormula One driversDavid Coulthard,Ralf Schumacher andTakuma Sato. Since the introduction of F3 races, the Macau GP has gradually become a stepping stone for many F3 drivers to higher class motor-racing competitions such as theFIA Formula 2 Championship and Formula One. However, only three drivers in the field in the 2010s –Valtteri Bottas in 2011,Max Verstappen in 2014, andCharles Leclerc in 2015—who have started this race have won a Formula One race, and 1995 was the last time a Macau Grand Prix winner won a Formula One race.
The event received world championship status from 2005 to 2014 as the final round of theWorld Touring Car Championship.
The Macau Grand Prix race weekend normally starts on the Thursday and ends on the Sunday on the second or third week of November. The first two days (Thursday and Friday) are generally scheduled for practice and qualifying. All races are held on Saturday and Sunday, with the final rounds of the heavyweights Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix and the Touring Car Guia Race (the final 2 rounds of theWorld Touring Car Championship), as well as the FIA GT World Cup, held on the last day. Both the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix and the Guia Race are sanctioned by theFIA and the winner of the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix is awarded the FIA World Cup. Apart from the two major races held at the race weekend, the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix is also one of the highlights of the weekend since it features former or current racers of theSuperbike World Championship and stars of Britain's legendary open-road motorcycle races such as theIsle of Man TT.
Newly introduced intothe 2007 race Macau GT Cup is the race for GT3 category cars. Since 2015 the winner of the race is awarded the FIA GT World Cup.
Over the years, the Macau Grand Prix's Guia Race for touring cars had belonged to theAsian Touring Car Championship, and the current GT Cup race was once theSupercar Cup for road going exotic sports cars., theFormula Renault race, thePorsche Carrera Cup Asia race, the scooter race for locals and in the past but on a less than frequent basis, aJackie Chan endorsed race for celebrity women drivers (partnered with pro racers) involvingMitsubishis, with whom Chan hold a sponsorship deal.
The title race was first held in 1954 as asports car race. In 1961, it switched toFormula Libre regulations until 1974, whenFormula Pacific became the rule.1983 was a start of the new era with the introduction of theFormula 3, which attracted drivers from European Formula 3 championships and theJapanese Formula 3 Championship.
2019 introduced theDallara F3 2019 machinery, with the entrants—all of them from theFIA Formula 3 Championship—using equal cars and engines for the first time.
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In2020,2021 and2022, the title race was run as a part ofChina's Formula 4 championship with exclusively local drivers and teams, as theCOVID-19 pandemic forced travel restrictions on internationalFIA F3 drivers and teams.
For 2024, the race returned to the 1983–2018 format ofFormula Regional where drivers of various European, North American, and Asian Formula Regional championships are eligible to participate.
International and national series to include the race:
Macau is a special event for motorcycle riders. The Motorcycle Grand Prix has featured notable top-level riders, with winners of the race including MotoGP World ChampionKevin Schwantz, Superbike World ChampionCarl Fogarty, notable MotoGP riderRon Haslam and Isle of Man legendsMichael Rutter,Michael Dunlop, andJohn McGuinness. Because of the street circuit nature, the course is closer to the legendary British open-road races than a regulation MotoGP circuit.
In 2014, the award-winning documentaryMacau Gladiators by German directorAndreas Knuffmann appeared.[9] The movie is about the 2013 edition of the Motorcycle Grand Prix and followed the team ofFrank Heidger and ridersDidier Grams andMarc Fistette.
The 2024 Motorcycle Grand Prix was cancelled following persistent heavy rains brought about byTyphoon Toraji. Results were taken from qualifying, withDavey Todd declared the winner.[10]
The firstGuia Race for touring cars was held in 1972. The event was notable in that very few touring car races were held on street circuits at the time. From 2005 to 2014, the race became the final two rounds of theFIA World Touring Car Championship. In 2015, the race changed formulae to theTCR Touring Car specifications. From 2015-16, the race was part of theTCR International Series. In 2017, it became the pentultimateSuper 2000 formula race for theWTCC before returning back to TCR standards under theWorld Touring Car Cup banner in 2018, where it has been a TCR championship series race. From 2018 to 2019 it was the World Touring Car Championship, while in 2020 it was run for theTCR China Touring Car Championship (primarily with drivers representing China and its regions). From 2021 to 2022, it was run as aTCR Asia Series race, again for drivers representing Asia, and since 2023 it has been part of the KumhoTCR World Tour, which allows drivers from China and Asia series to participate, and also since 2025,TCR Australia Touring Car Series, which also allows drivers from Australia and New Zealand to participate.
Starting from 2008, the Macau Touring Car Cup was added in the calendar. In 2022 and 2023 it was the final round of theChina Touring Car Championship, whilst in 2024TCR China joined the field of the TCR World Tour for their finale. In 2025, it will be theTCR Australia Touring Car Series in addition to its World Tour status.[14]
The Macau GT Cup was added in 2008, and has been one of the most important supporting races of the Grand Prix since then.
The FIA GT World Cup is a race forGT3-spec cars, organized by theStéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and theAutomobile General Association Macau-China (AAMC). The event was confirmed by theFIA at theWorld Motor Sport Council inGeneva on 20 March 2015.[15] The winning driver of the event is the winning driver of the Main Race, but the award for the FIA GT World Cup for Manufacturers is presented to the manufacturer supplying the cars with a manufacturer entry with the highest number of points after addition of the points of its two best cars awarded according to the result of the Main Race.
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Starting in 2017, there is an age limit for drivers; drivers may be no older than 59 years 364 days, as bronze-level drivers are prohibited from participation. (Under FIA driver grading rules, any driver over 60 is a bronze driver, regardless of his accomplishments).
In 2020 to 2022, the Macau GT Cups locally organised (not by SRO as a part of FIA GT World Cup) due to the local pandemic ofCOVID-19. In 2023, the race organisation returned to SRO.
In 2018 theGreater Bay Area Lotus Cup was added to the GP events. This was a single make race with all competitors driving aLotus Exige. The race was a joint promotion between Automobile General Association Macao-China (AAMC), Hong Kong Automobile Association (HKAA) and Zhuhai Motorsports Association. The drivers were from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.[16]
Except the Macau GT Cup, the Greater Bay Area GT Cup has been on the calendar since 2019, which replaced the Greater Bay Area Lotus Cup. The race includes talented GT drivers mainly from theGreater Bay Area. In 2023, it was separated as the GT3 and GT4 Cups.
The 6.120 km (3.803 mi)Guia Circuit features a combination of fast straights and tight corners, with the circuit's minimum width being only seven metres. It is recognised as one of the most challenging circuits in the world.[19] The circuit had a Grade 2 (Restricted) FIA track license in October 2023.[20]
As of 2025, there has been a total of 17 deaths from accidents at or related to the circuit; in total, nine motorcyclists, five car drivers, one spectator, official and bystander each. Eight of those are from Hong Kong.[21]
1967:Arsenio Laurel: Killed when he lost control of hisLotus 41 and hit the corner sea wall, now called Mandarin Bend. He was trapped in his Formula car and burned.[22]
1971: David Ma: whilst qualifying, he lost control of hisLotus 47 under braking for the Statue Corner, striking into a lamp post. Ma was killed instantly. The wrecked remains of his car was dumped at sea on its return trip.[23][24]
1972: Chan Shui Fat: at the Guia Race, his Mini Cooper went out of control at more than 100 mph and left the road. Chan jumped out of the car before it crashed into a wall and burst into flames. He died from internal bleeding shortly after being admitted to hospital.[25][21]
1974:Dieter Glemser: during practice for the Guia Race, he lost control of his Zakspeed Ford Escort RS 1600 when it suffered from a blowout. The car hit a sea wall, spun across the rain-soaked track and ploughed into the mostly unprotected crowd, consisting of several young spectators. One of them, an eight-year-old child, later died of his injuries and five children between six and ten received hospital treatment. The accident led Glemser, the 1971 Guia Race winner, to retire from racing months later.[26][21]
1979: Tong Zheng Hui: at the ACP saloon car support race, Tong'sToyota Corolla coupe and Bobby ChungDatsun Sunny collided with each other and caught fire at Excelsior Bend, killing Tong and hospitalizing the other with serious injuries. The third driver involved, Wong Weng Kwong, was critically injured after crashing into barrier at the same place immediately before collision.[21]
1998: At the Supercar Cup (the predecessor of GT World Cup), aFerrari 348 caught fire due to an oil leak, this almost spread to the Ferrari ofAaron Kwok, causing him to park up and bail out. The driver parked the burning car in the pits with two firefighters trying to extinguish the fire. A Porsche 911T lost control spun out of control after hitting the oil slick, striking into two firemen and three track officials, before crashing into a barrier, destroying the car frontally. The fireman later died from his injuries.[21]
2000 [zh]: Frans Verschuur: during the warm-up session for the Guia touring car race, his Renault Megane suffered a brake failure as he entered Lisboa. The car ploughed into several tyre barriers before hitting a parked car and then continued on before hitting a truck, killing a pedestrian (a tourist who was not part of the event), injuring three others and while Verschuur suffered back and leg injuries. The incident led to his team, Renault Dealer Team Holland, to pull out of the race as a mark of respect.[27]
2012:Philip Yau [zh]: In a WTCC-specChevrolet Cruze in theCTM Touring Car Cup invitational, a part failure led to the car making contact with the Turn 2 (Mandarin Oriental) wall at speeds over 200 km/h. The rescue team tried to put out the fire with the fire extinguisher. The driver was airlifted to the hospital, but died shortly afterwards.[21]
2018:Sophia Flörsch: Suffered a spinal fracture after her Formula 3 car became airborne after contact leading into Lisboa corner, flipping over the catch fencing and striking a photographers' bunker.[28][29]
Motorcycle fatalities:
The society of Macau is developing rapidly. During every edition of the Grand Prix, traffic in the outer harbour area becomes severely disrupted. In 2007, politicianStanley Au Chong-kit pointed out that the Macau Grand Prix should be suspended as it wastes money and brings negative impacts to locals. Meanwhile, affairs commentatorTam Chi Keung suggested to move the Grand Prix event toCotai.[30][31][32][33] Later, in 2020, former president of the Macau SAR Sports BureauManuel Silverio also suggested to move the Macau Grand Prix to Cotai instead during an interview ofTDM Canal. "It might be the appropriate time to use a new circuit. For instance, in Cotai, so that it can relieve a great amount of pressure for visitors and locals." This suggestion never happened as he wasn't the president of the bureau anymore.[34]
Due to travel restrictions, foreign racers and riders were not able to attend the 67th edition of the Grand Prix, making the event downgraded to "Greater Bay Area only". The Motorcycle Grand Prix was cancelled, and visitors to Macau were lower than expectations. However, the Macau SAR Government persisted in holding the Grand Prix using 250 million patacas which caused dissatisfaction among local people. The Macau SAR Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture and the president of the Macau Grand Prix Organising Committee (MGPOC)Ao Ieong U refused to answer questions from local media.
The Macau SAR Sports Bureau issued a press release stating that holding the Macau Grand Prix doesn't only proves that the government is confident in pandemic prevention, and also the determination to promote post-epidemic economic recovery. Holding the Macau Grand Prix could show the demonstration of Macau's anti-epidemic results to the world, restoring tourists' confidence and intention to travel to Macau, and drive the tourism, hotel and catering industries. It also hoped to promote the recovery of the construction, transportation and automobile maintenance industries through the linkage effect of the Grand Prix, thus boosting the economy, creating jobs, increasing employment for citizens, and minimising the impact of the epidemic on society and people's livelihood. The Sports Bureau believed that holding the Macau Grand Prix is meaningful to Macau, therefore hoped the society and citizens to understand and fully support the event.[35]
In May 2024, theFIA announced that from 2024 onwards, the Macau Grand Prix would featureFormula Regional machinery, replacing the FIA F3 World Cup.[36] The Macau Grand Prix Organising Committee (MGPOC) issued a statement regarding the change, saying that theFR cars would be more suitable for Macau and the Macau Grand Prix would continue being the only organiser of the aforementionedFIA World Cup.[37]
F3 racersGabriele Minì, who finished the2023 Macau Grand Prix in third,Laurens Van Hoepen andNikita Bedrin expressed their unimpressed opinion on the change.[38]
MacaneseFormula 4 racerTiago Rodrigues also expressed his thoughts on the event. He pointed out that the switch would bring both positive and negative effects. For the positive, theFR World Cup would attract more and younger racers participating in the event.[39] On the other hand, the great tradition within motorsport and Macau is lost. "In theSAR,F3 is one of the most prestigious races in the world and brings more interest thanFR. We will also probably never have a car as fast asF3 racing here anymore." said Rodrigues.[40]
DoubleFormula 4 Macau Grand Prix winnerCharles Leong shared the same opinion as the cost of participating inFormula Regional is less than inFormula 3, and said that the FR World Cup would not be less competitive.[41]
Moreover,André Couto, who is the winner of the2000 Macau Grand Prix, expected that the competitiveness and level of excitement wouldn't be affected.[42] However, he believes that changes would be brought for the prestige of the race.[43]
During an interview after a press conference of a sporting event in Macau, the principal of the Macau SAR Sports Bureau, Pun Weng Kun stated that the Sports Bureau disagreed on views saying that the FR World Cup would lower the influence of the Macau Grand Prix and the new competition would attract more international drivers.[44][45]
In contrast, the former principal of the Macau Sports Institute, Manuel Silvério, noted that the change was obviously a demotion, not only in sporting terms, but also in terms of the city’s international projection. Silvério found the decision strange as in 2023, the FIA established a 3-year agreement with the Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee, for continue organising the FIA F3 and GT World Cups at Macau. “In this situation, it is either a lack of communication or a lack of communication ability.” he pointed out. “If this agreement exists, it must be fulfilled and the changes must be agreed by both parties. Either there was a unilateral decision by the FIA, or this change was agreed by the MGPOC.” he stated.[43]
22°11′50″N113°33′10″E / 22.19722°N 113.55278°E /22.19722; 113.55278
