Red Bull junior and Motopark’s Dan Ticktum defended his Macau GP crown in 2018 in style from teammate Joel Eriksson and Renault junior and Carlin’s Sacha Fenestraz.
Pole-sitter Ticktum got away nicely at the start of the race but Eriksson lost a place to Fenestraz with Ferrari junior and Carlin’s Callum Ilott losing fourth to HitechGP’s Jake Hughes behind the leading pair.
Even Prema Theodore’s Mick Schumacher along with teammate Ralf Aron gained places with Red Bull junior and Motopark’s Juri Vips losing on the other hand. The race was neutralised due to an incident in Turn 3.
Motopark’s Marino Sato, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kevyan Andres and HitechGP’s Alex Palou and Charles Leong were the drivers involved as they retired immediately. Meanwhile, as the race went green, the mood soon turned sour with another heavy crash in Turn 3.
The race was red-flagged as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Sophia Floersch flew straight into the safety fence – with photographers and marshals suspected to be involved as well. The FIA stated that Floersch was conscious and taken to the hospital.
“A serious incident has occurred on lap 4 of the 2018 FIA F3 World Cup at Macau involving car #25 Sophia Florsch (GER). Following evaluation by medical staff, the driver is conscious and has subsequently been taken to hospital for further evaluation.”
A further note from the FIA stated: “Five individuals were involved in the accident at Lisboa Bend. All were conscious during the transit to the hospital and are now receiving medical treatment: two drivers, two photographers and one marshal.”
The female racer is suspected to have collided with Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala – not shown on the world feed – on the approach to Turn 3 where she flew into the fence as the Indian driver limped back into the pits. She also hit TODA’s Sho Tsuboi in the process.
After a lengthy delay to repair the fence, the race re-started behind the safety car. On green flag, Ticktum led the way as Eriksson made quick work of Fenestraz to take second with Ilott losing out to Schumacher and Aron to drop to seventh.
Eriksson tried hard to take on Ticktum but his chances was hindered with a crash for HitechGP’s Enaam Ahmed in Turn 16 which resulted in a FCY. Upon re-start, Ticktum started to push and was able to create a handy gap to Eriksson under fading lights.
In the end, Ticktum was too much to handle as he defended his 2017 crown in style to make his second Macau GP in a row – only the fourth driver to win it two times in F3 category after Edoardo Mortara, Antonio Felix da Costa and Felix Rosenqvist.
Eriksson tried hard but had to settle for second with Fenestraz completing podium from Hughes and Schumacher in the Top 5. It was a fight between Aron and Ilott for sixth with the Estonian coming in front as Ilott lost another place to Vips then after.
The Ferrari junior finished eighth as a result from fellow Ferrari drivers Armstrong and Robert Shwartzman as Motopark’s Ferdinand Habsburg missed on a Top 10 result to be 11th from Prema Theodore’s Guanyu Zhou.
The Chinese driver fought his way through after starting from the back. After damaging his suspension due to the hit from Floersch in the early incident, Daruvala still managed to race to finish 13th.
Position 11-20: Habsburg, Zhou, Daruvala, Ritomo Miyata, Yuhi Sekiguchi, Frederik Vesti, Toshiki Oyu, Yoshiaki Katayama, Sena Sakaguchi, Dragon. DNF: Ahmed, Floersch, Tsuboi, Ukyo Sasahara, Sato, Palou, Leong, Andres.
