Edoardo Mortara stamped his authority on the strongest Macau GT Cup field in history, securing pole position for the start of Sunday’s 12-lap race. Audi Race Experience team mate Laurens Vanthoor, however, came within twenty-four thousandths of a second of Mortara’s pole-setting lap, proving he is ready to give ‘Mr. Macau’ a run for his money.
LKM Racing’s Earl Bamber was third quickest over the two sessions, like Mortara unable to improve on his earlier best lap in today’s final Qualifying. German Maro Engel, one of two Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy entries, will line up alongside Bamber on the second row.
Former FIA World Touring Car driver Darryl O’Young in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and Engel’s team mate Renger Van Der Zande will make up the third row of the grid. Bamber was pleased to be P3 for the race: “It’s fantastic to be in the top three amongst one of the most competitive GT fields in the world. Mortara and Vanthoor are going to be difficult to catch, but it’s going to be a good race.” While Mortara and Bamber weren’t able to improve on their best times in Friday’s first Qualifying session, most of the field was, despite the session being interrupted by a red flag.
Bamber led the field out on track and set about putting in a flying lap, only to meet traffic. Vanthoor, meanwhile, managed to set his quickest lap despite a queue of cars forming at Melco when Frank Yu failed to make the turn. However, an incident between Hong Kong’s Jeffrey Lee and Mok Weng Sun of Singapore resulted in oil being spilled on the track, bringing out the red flag.
The session resumed with just under 20 minutes left on the clock, and O’Young led the field back out on track, bettering his Qualifying I time despite almost losing control on the slippery track at the Melco exit.
Mortara then put in a lap just a fraction slower than his pole time, but made a mistake at Lisboa and touched the barriers on the following lap as he tried to go one better. With just over three minutes to go, Macau’s Vong Keng Fai hit the barrier at Fishermen’s Bend, spilling oil and water across the track and bringing out the red flag for the second time. The session was not restarted.
