FORMULA 3: Mortara Conquers All

The annual Macau Grand Prix is traditionally the biggest showcase of young driving talent in the world, bringing together mostly what is know as the 3 biggest Formula 3 series in the world (F3 Euroseries, Britain & Japan) to discover which drivers are up for being the next big thing in single seater racing, it's an event dominated in recent years by the Japanese TOM'S squad, the reigning champions after last years win by the little known Japanese driver Keisuke Kunimoto, and they were favourites again this year to win it as they possessed in their ranks a hot new property in Swedish youngster Marcus Ericsson, the reigning Japanese F3 champion and race winner in selected outings in British F3, and seeing as he's only 19, he is set for a bright future. Other favourites for victory included the ART squad who fielded cars for the new European champion, Jules Bianchi of France and Valeri Bottas of Finland, Carlin brought the British champion, Australia's Daniel Ricciardo and Kiwi driver Brendon Hartley. There was a strong British challenge too including the likes of Sam Bird, Max Chilton, Wayne Boyd and McLaren Autosport award winner Alexander Sims.

But rising above everyone to take toe top prize was 22 year old Edoardo Mortara from Italy after a superb drive to hold off his teammate Jean Karl Vernay

QUALIFYING RACE

In a unique format, there are 2 qualifying sessions and a short qualifying race to set the final grid, the winner getting the opportunity to start the main race from Pole position, the short sprint was won by Vernay ahead of Ericsson, Mortara, Bottas and the Belgian driver Laurens Vanthoor, Sam Bird was the best of the Brits in 7th. The big suprise though was Bianchi who struggled in the race after starting 7th and ended up being down in 21st on the grid. Only one driver (Kevin Chen from Taiwan) failed to qualify for the final after being disqualifyed for being potentially a danger to others after crashing in every session.

FINAL GRID
ROW 1: 1st Jean-Karl Vernay (Signature Volkswagen), 2n. Marcus Ericsson (TOM'S Toyota)
ROW 2: 3rd Edoardo Mortara (Signature Volkswagen), 4th Valtteri Bottas (ART Mercedes)
ROW 3: 5th Laurens Vanthoor (Signature Volkswagen), 6t. Daniel Ricciardo (Carlin Volkswagen)
ROW 4: 7th Sam Bird (ART Mercedes), 8th Takuto Iguchi (TOM'S Toyota)
ROW 5: 9th Roberto Merhi (Manor Mercedes), 10th Mika Maki (Hitech Volkswagen)
ROW 6: 11th Renger Van Der Zande (Raikkonen/Robertson Mercedes), 12th Yuji Kunimoto (NOW Motorsports Toyota)
ROW 7: 13th Alexander Sims (Raikkonen/Robertson Mercedes), 14th Victor Garcia (Fortec Mercedes)
ROW 8: 15th Max Chilton (Carlin Volkswagen), 16th Kei Cozzolino (Toda Honda)
ROW 9: 17th Stef Dusseldorp (Kolles & Heinz Volkswagen), 18th Koki Saga (Le Beausset Toyota)
ROW 10: 19th Carlos Huertas (Manor Mercedes), 20th Daniel Zampieri (Prema Powerteam Mercedes)
ROW 11: 21st Jules Bianchi (ART Mercedes), 22nd Stefano Coletti (Prema Powerteam Mercedes)
ROW 12: 23rd Alexandre Imperatori (Kolles & Heinz Volkswagen), 24th Brendon Hartley (Carlin Volkswagen)
ROW 13: 25th Daniel McKenzie (Fortec Mercedes), 26th Michael Ho (CHAMP Mercedes)
ROW 14: 27th Wayne Boyd (Hitech Volkswagen), 28th Henry Arundel (Carlin Volkswagen)
ROW 15: 29th Jake Rosenzweig (Fortec Mercedes)
DID NOT QUALIFY: Kevin Chen (CHAMP Mercedes)

GRAND PRIX RACE

From the start, Vernay raced clear ahead of Ericsson and Mortara, unfortunately for him though, the race was red flagged for a multi car pileup behind caused by Daniel Ricciardo, this eliminated no less than 9 cars including nearly all of the Carlin team (only Arundel reamined).

From the restart, the vastly reduced grid of 20 cars got away without incicent, Mortara blasted clear of Ericsson but could'nt beat Vernay to the first corner. Then as both the Signature teammates broke clear of Ericsson (who had also fallen behind Bottas), the scene was set for a titanic battle for the lead between both men, Mortara just could not get close enough due to Vernay giving a wonderful display of late braking and cornering allowing him to pull out enough of a gap going into the main straight therefore preventing his teammate a slipstream into the 1st corner...

...until that is on lap 11 out of 15 when Vernayran wide in the hairpin at the end of the lap, this was the bit of luck Mortara needed as his constant harrying of Vernay finally paid off as he got his slipstream and made his move to take the lead on lap 12. A lead Mortara would never relinquish as the GP2 race winner (he won the GP2 season opener) went on to take an emotional win.

Behind him though, the man of the race was Britain's Sam Bird, who battled from 7th on the grid to catch and then pass pre-race favourite Ericsson and also Bottas (who got into mechanical trouble late on) to claim the final step on the podium, albeit 14 seconds behind the top 2, showing how the 2 Signature team-mates dominated.

RACE RESULT - TOP 10

1. EDOARDO MORTARA (Signature Volkswagen) ................ 15 Laps in 53m 07.769
2. JEAN KARL VERNAY (Signature Volkswagen) ................ + 1.146
3. SAM BIRD (ART Mercedes) ................ + 10.892
4. MARCUS ERICSSON (TOM'S Toyota) ................ + 14.988
5. VALERI BOTTAS (ART Mercedes) ................ + 19.188
6. TAKUTO IGUCHI (TOM'S Toyota) ................ + 21.406
7. RENGER VAN DER ZANDE (Raikkonen/Robertson Mercedes) ................ + 22.059
8. MIKA MAKI (Hitech Volkswagen) ................ + 29.005
9. YUJI KUNIMOTO (NOW Motorsports Toyota) ................ + 33.348
10. JULES BIANCHI (ART Mercedes) ................ + 35.761