Antonio Fuoco clinched victory within the 2025 FIA GT World Cup in Macau with a commanding efficiency from pole place.
The AF Corse Ferrari driver made up for the misplaced victory of 2024, when a conflict with Raffaele Marciello had price each an opportunity to face on the highest step of the rostrum.
This time, the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours winner accomplished an ideal weekend within the Ferrari 296 GT3, scoring pole place and wins in each the qualification race and the primary occasion.
Rowe Racing’s Marciello secured second place from fourth on the grid due to an outstanding begin and the robust top-speed efficiency of the BMW M4 GT3 Evo. Third went to Laurin Heinrich, who began the race in eighth within the Schumacher CLRT Porsche.
Not like the largely uneventful begin within the qualification race on the prime of the sphere, the primary race opened with motion immediately. At Reservoir Bend, Alessio Picariello’s Absolute Porsche made mild contact with Marciello’s BMW, spun and hit the barrier.
Marciello wasn’t carried out but. He additionally slipped previous the Concord Ferrari of Yifei Ye, who briefly lifted earlier than Mandarin Bend, leaving a spot on the within that the two-time Macau winner exploited with out hesitation. Ye dropped to fifth in consequence.
The normal Lisboa incident adopted moments later — and this time it affected the entrance of the sphere. Ayhancan Guven was pushed into the tyre limitations by Heinrich, who had been nudged from behind by Joel Eriksson’s Phantom World Audi.
Guven got here to a cease within the limitations, with each Luca Engstler’s Absolute Corse Lamborghini and Dorian Boccolacci’s Phantom World Porsche unable to keep away from him, hitting the Schumacher CLRT Porsche and retiring on the spot.Â
Picariello, already out from his first-corner spin, made it 4 early casualties. Within the chaos, Adderly Fong (Uno Audi, eleventh) picked up a puncture and was compelled to pit.
The 2 incidents introduced out the security automotive for 2 laps. That left a 13-lap dash to the chequered flag.
Fuoco raised the tempo on the restart as early as potential, effectively conscious of the BMW’s top-speed benefit. He stayed forward on the long term to Lisboa after which pulled clear to take a commanding victory.
A second security automotive was prevented when Edoardo Mortara slid into the tyres on the Melco hairpin on account of {an electrical} shutdown on board his Absolute Corse Lamborghini.
Race management dealt with the scenario beneath native yellows — everlasting in that nook anyway — and opted towards calling the security automotive once more.
Marciello confronted race-long stress from Heinrich and Eriksson, however neither may problem the BMW on the straights. Within the slender sections they have been capable of apply critical stress, just for Marciello to repeatedly stretch the hole on the lengthy straight.
Ye was unable to hitch that combat and completed his dwelling occasion in fifth place, adopted by Sheldon van der Linde’s WRT BMW.
Ranging from P12, van der Linde pulled off a uncommon Macau overtake on the Ferrari of Yi Deng, who then misplaced one other place to Phantom World Audi’s Christopher Haase, who had began means again in P13.
Ninth went to Porsche’s Laurens Vanthoor, who slipped again after a small lock-up at Lisboa, whereas Benjamin Goethe’s Optimum McLaren accomplished the highest ten.
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