Macau: Marciello shines, Mortara struggles 🎥
"LELLO" WINS FOR ITALY Swiss-born Raffaele Marciello won the FIA GT World Cup in Macau in a Mercedes-AMG. Edoardo Mortara's chances were already gone after an accident in the qualifying race (video). Raffaele Marciello was the superior man in the urban canyons of the Chinese gambling city of Macau. After setting the fastest time in practice, the Swiss-born driver won, but for his [...]
Raffaele Marciello was the superior man in the urban canyons of the Chinese gambling city of Macau. After setting the fastest time in practice, the Swiss-born Italian, who competes for his home country, also won the qualifying race and the final race, which is the only round of the FIA GT World Cup.
Second FIA championship title
For the soon-to-be 25-year-old Mercedes works driver, who competed in an Art Car for the GruppeM customer team, it is the first overall victory at the Macau Grand Prix, and the fourth for the brand since 2014.
"Lello" was the overall winner of the Blancpain GT Series in 2018 and has now claimed his second FIA title after winning the Formula 3 European Championship in 2012. Marciello lives in Ticino. In the early days of his career, he celebrated a number of successes in Swiss karting.
Raffaele Marciello: "The start was the key to success in both races. I knew that if I could stay in front, the others would have a hell of a time overtaking me. That's exactly what happened. I'm really happy about the victory. I've been working towards this for a long time and showed that I can compete with the world's best."
The two Porsche works drivers Laurens Vanthoor (B) and Earl Bamber (NZ) stayed on the heels of the winner with the 911 GT3 R from Rowe Racing in both races and subsequently flanked Marciello on the podium.
Bad luck for "Mister Macau
In Saturday's qualifying race, record winner Edoardo Mortara, who was already in fourth place, was robbed of all his chances by an accident that was not his fault. On Sunday, the Geneva native had to start from 14th position, triggering Maro Engel out of the pits for the penalty.
In the course of the 18 laps, during which there was a safety car phase, "Edo" still advanced to 6th place. In 2017, Mortara was the only Swiss driver so far to win the FIA GT World Cup, and had previously won the Macau GT Cup three times and, under the Italian flag, the Macau GP in Formula 3 in 2009 and 2010.
The short video shows the spectacular accident scene, which both Mercedes drivers fortunately survived unharmed.
Edoardo Mortara: "That was a difficult race. With 14th place on the grid, expectations are naturally not too high. Sixth place at the finish was something of a miracle. I made up a lot of positions in the first laps, but then not much happened. All in all, though, it was a good Sunday, with a frustrating prelude for me. But Lello's victory is the most important thing. I know he wanted this title here for so long and really deserved it."
All or nothing
Alexandre Imperatori's sixth-place finish in the qualifying race put him in a good position for the final race. For the Freiburg native, who lives in Shanghai, the race in the Porsche with the matching starting number #911 was soon over.
Alexandre Imperatori: "Kévin Estre unfortunately touched my rear while overtaking in the Lisboa corner. As a result, I got into the barriers on the left. The rear wing was damaged. I tried for two more laps afterwards but lost far too much time in the fast corners, so I stopped. It's a shame, but that's how it is in Macau: all or nothing. This time there was nothing."
Results FIA GT World Cup Macau
