Photos: Macau GP Organising Committee

Pinnacle Motorsport had the pace to win in Macau, but it needed more than that for its 1-2 in the grand prix

There was mixed feelings on the podium of last Sunday’s Macau Grand Prix, as Pinnacle Motorsport’s drivers received their wreaths, trophies and were then interviewed after finishing one-two. Mari Boya had driven a tactile race which earned him the lead twice, but came home runner-up to Theophile Nael who “was not breathing” through the last lap after getting to the front.

He had taken first place through a move that “was 100% determination” after a restart on the penultimate lap, flying past Boya and R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny down the straight following Mandarin corner.

“I was just full throttle, six gears, and I was looking to the front. I brake late, and it paid off,” Nael said of the overtake.

He later added a key detail when talking to media, saying “I don’t know why they slowed down a bit too much” ahead.

Boya had led the field back to racing speeds heading into lap 14 of 15, and weaved his way down the straights between the first two corners with his eye always on his left mirror. Deligny took a tighter line into the high-speed Mandarin right-hander, but was too close to Boya’s gearbox after the apex to have room to go either side of him so he had to check up.

The pair had two car lengths in hand over Nael entering Mandarin, but he was on their tail exiting it and Boya’s decision to jink right then to cover the inside to prevent Deligny from taking it left Nael plenty of room to get past both on the outside.

Once ahead of Boya he moved to the right, then Boya tucked in behind as the track tightened so Nael had the inside line for braking into Lisboa. Had Nael been closer into Mandarin, he would have been compromised the same way Deligny was.

While Nael credited that he and Boya had “worked really well together the whole weekend”, to concede the lead — and ultimately victory — to his team-mate was clearly not Boya’s plan.

Mari Boya

“I’m not happy,” was Boya’s first reaction once out of the cockpit. “The slipstream, I don’t understand how it’s so powerful. I was stuck on the straight, so couldn’t do anything. This is racing.”

He later added “maybe tomorrow I will be happier than today” and ” when I will look at the past I will be really happy and proud about this week”, but was frank about his disappointment at the final restart not going to plan.

“I knew I will lead the race after T2. Like I had in mind, I [was] 100% sure if there was a safety car the one that will be in front [would be] me. I looked at thousands of possibilities to restart, and the one that was [resulting in] every time the best was this one,” he explained of his choice to instigate the restart before R bend, weave to Mandarin and then tuck inside.

“Ugo [Ugochukwu, 2024 winner] last year was amazing doing this. [Pirelli] changed the compound, it’s much easier to have the tyre ready and it’s harder to make the difference. So for me it was the best one, the best place to do it. Freddie [Slater] also, I think he knew it was there.

“And in the last one [restart], yeah, nothing more to do. Just waiting for a car to overtake you. You can brake in the middle of the straight, but it’s not fair. This is Macau.”

While that answer suggested he was against the idea of lifting on a straight to slow a driver behind, in comments made to one outlet he claimed “I know how to play my game, and I feel Fernando [Alonso] is the best one doing this type of thing.”

Deligny’s take on the restart was that Boya had lost speed as a tactical decision.

“I made sure to not be too close heading into Mandarin, to not have to brake too early. I tried to manage the gap perfectly, but for some reason he decided to slow down in the middle of the corner, which meant I had to brake as well,” he said.

Fastest laps

Boya’s approach had not only been influenced by watching previous races and Alonso, a driver for the Aston Martin Formula 1 team which now backs Boya’s career, but by restarts and the pace earlier in the race when victory looked far harder to take.

Prema’s Freddie Slater had started on pole after winning the qualification race the previous day, but lost the lead to Boya into the opening corner. The safety car made its first appearance shortly after, and on the race’s first restart Boya weaved his way down the first straights, Slater looked to his outside after Mandarin and as soon as he was fully ahead cut to the inside.

It was a clinical pass, and Slater then built a three-second lead with a pace 0.66 seconds faster than Boya’s before the safety car returned. The subsequent restart was a repeat of the first but with the roles reversed, and when pushing to stay with the leader Slater then crashed at R bend which led to a third safety car period and then the restart which Boya lost the race on.

“I feel I did everything I could. Freddie today was really, really strong. I pushed so, so hard at the beginning to try to catch him,” Boya said of his earlier rival for victory.

“He was with new tyres so it was super hard for me to stay with him. So when I realised I couldn’t follow him, I started to not push, think on [saving] tyres to — if there was a safety car or something — have a revenge.”

While in disbelief at how the slipstream effect eradicated his lead so quickly in sector one, Boya was in praise of Slater’s style.

“He was taking many risks, but he was driving really, really good. I felt he had a lot of confidence today. I saw in the first restart that the slipstream was super powerful. I felt I did a really good job in my first one, and he overtook me super easy.”

Boya added: “[Slater] was incredibly fast in the last two corners [on the restarts], but the slipstream is so powerful that I was able to arrive, risk it a lot on the braking, was moving everything, locking front, rear. I knew that I wanted to win here. It doesn’t matter making P2. The one that is remembered is in P1. And I knew that it was my chance to get past Freddie.

Slater’s crash

“Then he make a mistake in the last corner, and I felt it was for me because I knew I had a gap. But, again safety car, one-lap race, ciao. I tried to do whatever in the last two corners, but it’s too powerful the slipstream.”

There was also plenty of praise for Nael’s drive. He had lost third place to Deligny at the start, and had been pressuring him when Slater and Boya were battling ahead in what the winner described as a “patient” race.

“Both starts, yesterday and today, didn’t went as planned so I just managed to stay calm. I know that we are racing in Macau so everything can happen. Until the chequered flag it’s not over, so I was patient.”

Nael credited Pinnacle as “the car was just flying, the pace was there the whole weekend”, and like Boya was saving his rubber on a hot track once Slater had stormed ahead. But as shown with his storming drive in the shorter qualification race, he actually had a grippier car than his rivals late on.

“I had to manage the tyres as well,” he admitted. “So I kept that in mind. To not overpush, to have still some pace in the tyres at the end of the race. But what I saw from yesterday’s race, the tyre degradation was not that much, so for me it was possible to push until the end.”

Grip matters in the twisty mountain section as much as the straights, most importantly helping drivers avoid the barriers. Confidence through those corners has a big impact on laptime, and can help drivers create gaps that minimise the slipstream effect to cars behind once they get through the Guia Circuit’s five sectors and back to the straights.

“Obviously there’s a lot of simulations done before the event. And we know Macau is notoriously difficult to overtake on,” Pinnacle’s team director John O’Hara said when asked about what had underpinned his team’s excellent weekend.

“Into Lisboa on lap one is your best chance, and on the safety car restarts. So of course that was a factor for us.

1-2 finishes at the Macau GP

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Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee

Theophile Nael snatched victory from KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport team-mate Mari Boya in the 72nd running of the Macau Grand Prix.

Nael led less than a lap of racing before the fourth safety car period of the race began, and since it ran to the end that secured him the FIA Formula Regional World Cup.

Prema’s Freddie Slater started the 15-lap race from pole, and jinked to the right off the line before surging to the left to try to cover off Boya coming up on his inside. But Boya took the lead into turn one, then Slater was forced to hold off Nael.

That defending compromised Nael and allowed R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny to pass him, with ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato alongside too before Lisboa. Kato carried too much speed into the corner, checked up and lost out to PHM Racing’s Mattia Colnaghi, then at the next corner a five-car pile-up behind led to the first safety car interruption.

Before it was called out, Slater had tried passing Boya around the outside of turn eight, and when racing resumed on lap four he was on the attack again. Boya weaved his way down the first straights, Slater looked to his outside after Mandarin and as soon as he was fully ahead he cut to the inside to prevent Boya from braking late at Lisboa.

Slater pulled three seconds clear before the safety car returned on lap nine after Evans GP’s Oscar Wurz drove into Lisboa’s barriers.

On the lap 11 restart, the roles were reversed. Slater weaved, Boya attacked on the outside after Mandarin then cut straight to the inside once fully ahead. As he pushed to stay with Boya, Slater slid wide at the final corner, clouted the wall and picked up race-ending damage. It triggered another safety car period on lap 12.

Nael had been pressuring Deligny after the first restart, nosing ahead approaching Lisboa twice but backing out of passing attempts due to being on the outside, then on his third attempt backing off early so he could switch to Deligny’s inside but then having to slam on the brakes.

The pair had been gapped by the top two during the green flag action, but on the penultimate lap restart they both kept with a weaving Boya who after looking in his mirrors chose to cover off Deligny after Mandarin. He could then do nothing as Nael swept past both into lead.

Behind them, Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri crashed out of ninth by striking the barriers through turn two, an incident which then caught TOM’S driver Tokiya Suzuki and meant his race ended down the Lisboa escape road.

R-ace’s Jin Nakamura and Prema’s Charles Leong collided after Lisboa, and the safety car was called later in the lap.

Before racing was neutralised, Kato had gone around the outside of team-mate Evan Giltaire for fifth through Lisboa after Giltaire had passed him there two laps prior, and Boya had got onto Nael’s gearbox at two corners but then had to check up twice which allowed his team-mate to lead unchallenged through the mountain section.

Colnaghi kept out of trouble in fourth, while Trident’s Noah Stromsted and R-ace’s Matteo De Palo gained two spots from the crashes to finish seventh and eighth but had entered the top 10 when Stromsted overtook Sainteloc Racing’s James Egozi up Moorish Hill and De Palo followed through around the outside at Dona Maria I.

Race results (15 laps)

The post Nael snatches Macau GP victory from Boya in Pinnacle Motorsport 1-2 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee

Ahead of the decisive main races of Sunday, who is feeling confident in Macau’s FRegional and F4 paddocks?

The qualification races for the FIA Formula Regional and Formula 4 World Cups both delivered action and intrigue on Saturday, and have set up what should be an exciting Sunday at the Macau Grand Prix.

In the main event, Theophile Nael set a new lap record for FRegional cars around the Guia Circuit by half a second over his KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport team-mate Mari Boya, but neither driver won as a superb start from Prema’s Freddie Slater put him past poleman Nael into a lead he was able to extend to over five seconds during the 10-lap race.

Slater entered the unknown at the front, as disruptions earlier in the weekend meant this was the first time a run of consecutive laps lasting that long had been completed. While he had also contested the grand prix in 2024, the first time FRegional cars were used, that event ran mostly in mixed conditions so there was still plenty of learning to be done in 2025.

On the grid for Saturday’s qualification race, Slater said to get a good start “was the key factor”, but after he claimed the lead a few seconds in he was “just trying to get a read on balance for tomorrow” thereon.

“We’ve got an extra five laps tomorrow, so we need to know what we need to do overnight to make it even better,” he noted.

“It [the car] has had pace all weekend. The track’s getting faster and faster now, the times are coming down with the race runs, and the track’s getting grippy, so it’s good fun out there.”

Slater was able to have more fun in part due to “understanding the car after a full season in this category”, having won the European championship this year with Prema. And while the racing line was very grippy by the end of the day when the FRegional cars took to track, that had more challenging consequences too.

Freddie Slater

“There’s one line, and if you’re not on it you’re in the wall,” beamed the race winner, before later being more analytical.

“There’s a lot of rubber down there now, but then off-line it’s very dirty. It’s quite a fine line between getting it right and getting it wrong now, which is very interesting. Especially for us [single-seaters].”

However Slater’s race could have panned out differently from the front row. After taking the lead, he was susceptible to the slipstreams down the straights before the first braking zone at Lisboa, and at the high-speed Mandarin corner ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire and Boya tried getting alongside him.

The faster Pinnacle drivers then had to clear Giltaire, with overtaking obviously tricky on the iconic street circuit, before they could show their true pace. By the time they did, Slater’s lead was too large to be extinguished before race-end.

“I know they managed to pass Evan during the race, but it’s not really that normal sometimes. The start was crucial,” reflected Slater.

“I had a really good start, and from thereon you’re trying to manage the slipstream and trying to see where to block people out and make sure they’re not getting too big of a run. And Evan was alongside me as well, so it was kind of two cars in the middle.”

On how close he came to losing the lead he had only just gained on lap one, he added: “I looked in my mirror, Mari was quite far away; I looked again, and he was literally on my rear wing. The slipstream is pretty powerful here and it always makes the racing good fun.”

Boya and Nael also very much enjoyed themselves on track, and had plenty of positives to take away from the results despite finishing behind Slater. While the winner’s buzzword was “fun”, Boya’s was “revenge”.

Single-lap pace

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Session
1	Theophile Nael	KCMG/Pinnacle	2m15.561s	Race
2	Freddie Slater	Prema	+0.147s	Q1
3	Evan Giltaire	ART GP	+0.323s	Q2
4	Taito Kato	ART GP	+0.355s	Q2
5	Enzo Deligny	R-ace GP	+0.398s	Q2
6	Mari Boya	KCMG/Pinnacle	+0.468s	Q1
7	Mattia Colnaghi	PHM Racing	+0.475s	Q2
8	Rashid Al Dhaheri	Prema	+0.997s	Q2
9	Matteo De Palo	R-ace GP	+1.090s	Q1
10	Kanato Le	ART Grand Prix	+1.097s	Race
11	Enzo Yeh	PHM Racing	+1.123s	Race

“Yesterday I was a bit frustrated, felt I had a lot more, but today we got revenge, and the weekend is not over yet,” he said after his drive from sixth on the grid to second place. “I felt we had a really good pace, and even for tomorrow we can do better steps. I understand better the car, so now we will analyse and tomorrow we come back stronger.”

Boya admitted to making a “big mistake” on the last lap, pointing to the unknown element of a 10-lap stint, but it was mission accomplished for the FIA Formula 3 regular who finished fourth in the 2023 Macau GP when it ran for F3 cars.

“Since the start I felt I was really on it this race,” he added. “I know what to ask my engineer to maybe be a bit quicker. And being more comfortable on the limit. Because today the last laps were a bit tricky for me. But the beginning of the race was really strong. So happy about the race, and also the conclusions we take for tomorrow.”

While a strong start was as valuable to his result as it was to Slater’s, he claimed his F3 experience worked against him on the run to Lisboa.

“The thing is that I’m not used to racing with these drivers. I’m a bit older than them. So I don’t know really well how to fight with them. Because I don’t know how aggressive they are. So I need to always take a look, like knock on their door, then see what’s next. Anyway I had the pace, I was following pretty easy [with] Giltaire. So I just see where was my strongest points [to attempt passing], and when I see it’s clear I went for it.”

A similar logic was applied by Nael, who graduated from FRegional to F3 this year, in regards to his descent from first to fourth on the opening lap. But he could see the positives, as shown by his first words on microphone post-race.

“To be honest I prefer to start second row for tomorrow. With the slipstream it will help a lot,” he quipped.

Theophile Nael

“I need to work on the start for tomorrow, I will see what happened. But it is [such a long] time that I [have] not drove this car, so the first start is always a bit tricky.”

Nael said specifically “to get used to the clutch was a bit hard”, but he should “be good for tomorrow”. He will be on the same side of the grid for his second start back in the car, and wants to avoid losing out in battle in the all-important main race.

Being on the outside line for turn one proved costly, then to avoid hitting another car “I had to brake, but it’s fair play”. That led to a big loss of momentum down the following straight and he was fortunate to only lose three places.

“The pace during the whole race was really good. I was [able] to improve the two last laps, even the track record I think. So car is feeling good and I’m positive for tomorrow,” he remarked.

Since he bettered his pace as the fuel load lowered and the tyres became more worn, Nael feels confident about the main race’s longer distance but says “there is a lack of bite in the brake” to be aware of at all times as well as tyre degradation.

“I know what to improve on the car as well like Mari with my engineer,” he added. “If we see the pace of today, should be fine.”

Outside of the top three, only ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato in fifth, R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny in sixth and PHM Racing’s Mattia Colnaghi in seventh were within a second of Nael’s pace, with two sub-2m16s laps that were record-setters.

After the F4 race earlier in the day, all the talk was about Emanuele Olivieri’s lap one move for the lead on Sebastian Wheldon around the outside of Mandarina corner. Brave was the word many used to describe the winner’s overtake.

“I got a good jump so I knew I had quite a good opportunity to overtake Wheldon. I thought T2 was easy flat, and also around the outside, but I ended up quite close to the wall. So it was quite a risky move,” he admitted.

Emanuele Olivieri

“After that I just had to manage my tyres. It was quite slippery around, so just bring it to the chequered flag.”

He was chased for most of the race by Fionn McLaughlin, who had fresher rubber after not setting any laptimes in practice, and Olivieri “was quite worried” when “Fionn was so close to me” as he thought he was “struggling around with the rear” tyres and believed the Red Bull junior behind had a pace advantage.

“I think today was the hottest track temperature of the [weekend]. Usually the more hot, the more slippery it is. So we chose to be on old tyres to be all set for tomorrow. I don’t think it was maybe the best choice, but we won the race so I won’t complain too much. But I was quite struggling to actually keep the car on track because I was – I think you can see it on the onboard – really oversteering in every corner. So I was also quite trying to be safe. To not do some silly mistake.

“But the new tyres advantage is giving you quite a lot of laptime, and confidence obviously.”

Olivieri was actually the quickest driver in the qualification race, and took the fastest lap by 0.783s over Yutsai Chan. Wheldon and Kean Nakamura Berta would have been two likely rivals as pacesetters after topping qualifying, but they crashed out at Lisboa on lap one after being passed by Olivieri.

That pair will start 15th and 16th for the main race, while Olivieri goes into Sunday with pole,”a lot of confidence” and has committed to “give it everything” to win the World Cup.

Jules Roussel was runner-up to Olivieri on Saturday, 5.687s behind, after charging up from ninth on the grid and overtaking at the very last corner of the race. To do the same on Sunday if battling for the win would certainly rival Olivieri’s move.

The post Super starts and bold overtakes: What will decide the 2025 Macau GP? appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee

Freddie Slater dominated the Macau Grand Prix’s qualification race, wining by over five seconds.

The Prema driver was alongside KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport’s poleman Theophile Nael straight away and took the lead on the inside through the opening corner, had his mirrors filled through the next corner, then went unchallenged through the remainder of the 10-lap race to secure pole for Sunday’s main race.

However, his Saturday ended with an investigation regarding speeding in the pitlane prior to the race.

After Nael lost the lead to a wheel-spinning Slater, Giltaire and Pinnacle team-mate Mari Boya then overtook him exiting turn one. Boya got alongside Giltaire, but tucked in behind Slater while Giltaire carried more speed on the outside through Mandarin. When they reached Lisboa, Nael looked to the outside of Boya but there was no room to attempt passing.

Slater created a 1.682-second gap on lap one, which grew to 2.6s, 3.2s and then 4.55s while Giltaire kept the faster Pinnacle drivers behind him.

Boya, who had started sixth, nosed ahead approaching Lisboa on lap two and four but could not overtake as he was on the outside line.

Giltaire weaved from Reservoir all the way to after Mandarin on lap five, but could do it no more once Boya was alongside and this time he got fully past on the straight so turned into Lisboa ahead.

While Boya then had clean air, Slater still grew his lead to 5.766s over the next two laps before the Pinnacle drivers showed their pace advantage. Nael copied Boya’s overtake on lap six, but only got back onto his team-mate’s gearbox at the end as he set the race’s only two sub-2m16s laps.

ART GP’s Taito Kato and R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny lost out to Boya at the start, with Kato holding off Deligny into Lisboa on lap three to keep fifth. Deligny was also noted by officials for pitlane speeding pre-race.

PHM Racing’s Mattia Colnaghi finished seventh, and the top 10 was completed by James Egozi (Sainteloc Racing), Noah Stromsted (Trident) and Rashid Al Dhaheri (Prema).

There were overtakes after lap one further back, as R-ace’s Matteo De Palo and PHM’s Jose Garfias demoted Trident’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to 13th on lap eight.

It was a clean race, with Evans GP’s Oscar Wurz the only retiree on lap one. Approaching the Melco hairpin he carried too much speed and locked up, and thanks to Prema’s Charles Leong weaving to the right did plough into anyone. 

However when Leong turned onto the racing line, Wurz broke his front wing and front-right wheel on him as he drove past at a corner where overtaking is not allowed. Wurz was able to stop down the escape road, meaning not even yellow flags were needed.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Newman Chi finished last after getting a 10s stop-go penalty for a mechanic being on the grid after the one-minute board was shown.

Race results (10 laps)

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Photo: Macau GP Organising Committee

KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport’s Theophile Nael claimed pole position for the Macau Grand Prix qualification race by topping Q2.

A 2m15.708s was the time to beat entering Friday’s session, as Prema’s Freddie Slater had set the pace in Q1 on Thursday.

The fielded headed out on fresh tyres, and R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny was the initial pacesetter. Nael and team-mate Mari Boya then moved ahead, before Slater posted a 2m17.033s to lead Nael by 0.347 seconds. ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato also lapped sub-2m18s to go fourth fastest, but was soon fifth as team-mate Evan Giltaire set a 2m17.874s to rise to third.

Deligny improved to 2m17.589s on his next lap, moving ahead of Giltaire who then reclaimed the place by 0.023s. Meanwhile Nael outpaced Slater by 0.027s, and was set to improve again before PHM Racing’s Jose Garfias crashed in the mountain section. He triggered a six-minute red flag period, and the session clock was paused.

After the restart, Boya lapped 0.136s shy of Nael 17 minutes in to sit third. Both then set purple sector splits next time by, but ended their laps by pitting.

At the session’s halfway mark, Deligny was demoted to fifth despite improving as PHM’s Mattia Colnaghi set a 2m16.783s to go quickest by 0.223s.

Kato put in a 2m17.238s to go fourth fastest before red flags waved as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Tymek Kucharczyk crashed, and this time Slater was disadvantagd as he had set a purple sector split.

Following another six-minute break, qualifying resumed. There was change at the top with 13 minutes to go, as Deligny lowered the pace by 0.172s. Two minutes later red flags returned, as Evans GP’s Charlie Wurz crashed. Boya and Colnaghi had been set to challenge Deligny’s 2m16.611s.

It was a brief interruption, and with seven minutes left the pole battle heated up. Boya set a 2m16.933s in third, and just behind Nael posted a 2m15.977s to lead Deligny by 0.634s and get within 0.269s of Slater’s provisional pole time.

A 2m16.684s put Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri ahead of Boya in Q2’s classification, with Giltaire setting a 2m16.743s to sit fourth with six minutes to go.

Deligny got within 0.018s of Nael one-and-a-half minutes later, and Boya was 0.129s shy of Nael, but both were slower than in Q1. But in Boya’s tow, Nael improved to 2m15.609s and now had provisional pole.

Slater’s responded by improving, but was 0.267s off the laptime that had toppled his Q1 benchmark by 0.099s. Colnaghi also made a big gain, but sat 0.427s behind Nael in fourth.

Giltaire snatched third with 96s left on the clock, setting a 2m15.884s, and Kato went 0.032s slower than him in fourth. That demoted Deligny and Colnaghi to fifth and sixth. Boya was improving at the end but pitted, and his Q1 time put him ahead of Colnaghi. Al Dhaheri, R-ace’s Matteo De Palo and Trident’s Noah Stromsted completed the top 10.

Qualifying results

The post Nael clinches Macau GP qualification race pole by beating Slater in Q2 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo; Macau GP Organising Committee

Prema’s Freddie Slater was quickest in the second Macau Grand Prix practice session on Friday morning.

The 40-minute session began with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kiyoshi Umegaki setting the pace, as he logged a 2m21.595s banker lap to lead team-mate Tymek Kucharczyk by 0.008 seconds. The pair would not improve on those times.

Around eight minutes in the rest of the field set their first laps at pace, with R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny usurping Umegaki with a 2m17.960s. He initially lead team-mate Jin Nakamura by 0.579s, then Slater got within 0.303s og him.

PHM Racing’s Mattia Colnaghi was next to occupy third, 0.305s off Deligny’s pace, prior to red flags waving as ART Grand Prix’s Kanato Le crashed to bring a stop to the session before nine minutes had even passed.

The restart occurred 16 minutes in, and Deligny led the field out of the pits. When he then embarked on his first flying lap since the stoppage, he went off but avoided hitting any barriers and was able to safely rejoin the circuit.

Charlie Wurz and one of his Evans GP team-mates went off at Lisboa, and when flying laps were finally completed at the 21-minute mark it was R-ace’s Matteo De Palo who went to the top with a 2m17.794s.

His time ahead was shortlived, as KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport’s Mari Boya went 0.064s faster than him 10s later and his team-mate Theophile Nael then posted a rapid 2m16.955s. But that lap was not to count as red flags had just waved due to Evans GP’s Oscar Wurz crashing hard at Fishermen’s Bend.

Just seven-and-a-half minutes remained when green flags waved again, and with two minutes-and-40 seconds left on the clock Deligny set a 2m16.957s to snatch back top spot by 0.773s. De Palo trimmed that advantage to 0.639s, then Nakamura cut it further 0.614s, and when Boya crossed the line he lowered the pace to 2m16.781s.

Slater beat that by 0.229s with just over two minutes to go, and his 2m16.552s would not be bettered.

ART GP’s Taito Kato and PHM’s Jose Garfias went fourth and sixth fastest, 0.78s and 1.035s off the pace respectively, before session-ending red flags waved after VAR’s Newman Chi crashed at Fisherman’s.

Inclusive out outlaps, the most running done by anyone was nine laps. That was achieved by Boya, Nakamura and De Palo. Pinnacle’s Theophile Nael set eight, but along with Le, Oscar Wurz and Trident pair Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Reza Seewooruthun failed to log any laptimes.

Free practice results

The post Slater leads Boya in second Macau GP practice session appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau GP Organizing Committee

Prema’s Freddie Slater stole top spot away from R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny at the end of the Macau Grand Prix’s first qualifying session.

Deligny was first out of the pits and went fastest as he and his team-mates set banker laps early in the 40-minute session.

A 2m19.990s comfortably put Deligny on top, and he improved to 2m17.9s next time by to lead Jin Nakamura by 0.767 seconds.

KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport’s Theophile Nael slashed his advantage to 0.08s on his first flying lap, with PHM Racing’s Mattia Colnaghi and Nael’s team-mate Mari Boya also getting within 0.5s of Deligny nine minutes in.

Deligny slid through the last corner but avoided crashing next time by, as team-mates Matteo De Palo and Nakamura got within 0.014s and 0.181s of him to sit second and fourth. A minute later they all sat far from the top, as Slater posted a 2m16.887s.

Colnaghi improved to 2m17.94s in fourth after 11 minutes, then ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato lapped a second off Slater’s time. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kiyoshi Umegaki went off at Lisboa, but it proved non-disruptive.

De Palo was next to reduce Slater’s advantage, down to 0.705s, then Nael came 0.015s shy of beating him. Boya was 0.133s off in third just before Slater grew his gap again to 0.581s.

Boya brought it back down to 0.398s, before yellow flags waved at Lisboa caused by PHM’s Enzo Yeh. Kato got within 0.565s of Slater in third after that, and the pacesetter pitted. De Palo lapped 0.33s off his benchmark, but was soon fourth as Deligny set a 2m16.297s to lead Nael by 0.044s. Another improvement from Boya put him fourth, 0.29s off, before he pitted too.

The next change in the top five came with 10 minutes to go, as Slater went quickest by 0.165s. Just after, Evans GP’s Hiyu Yamakoshi had a red flag-causing crash at Lisboa and Deligny went off there too.

A few minutes later Q1 restarted, and Deligny’s advantageous pit position proved critical as two seconds after he bettered Slater by 0.116s there were red flags due to Trident’s Reza Seewooruthun crashing. Evans GP’s Charlie Wurz got stuck at turn 19 on his way back to the pits, meaning a lengthy stoppage before green flags waved with just over five minutes to go.

Deligny bunched up the field for most of the outlap, cannily leaving only himself and De Palo time for two flying laps.

But De Palo then pitted and Deligny failed to improve. The chequered flag waved, and Boya got within 0.013s of Deligny.

Slater did even better, going fastest by 0.308s with purple sectors two and three. Nael lapped 0.019s off Boya to sit fourth, and Deligny was set for another non-improvement before Umegaki crashed and brought out yellow flags that scuppered his plan regardless.

Qualifying results

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Photo: ACI Sport

ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato set the pace in the first of the two 40-minute practice sessions for the Macau Grand Prix.

First to the top was R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny, leading team-mate Jin Nakamura. Prema’s Freddie Slater then became his closest rival eight minutes in, with Evans GP’s Charlie Wurz then getting within a second of Deligny on his next lap.

Slater was in his tow and posted the first sub-2m20s lap of the day, as team-mate Rashid Al Dhaheri went third fastest.

Kato took over that position 12-and-a-half minutes in, 0.597 seconds off Slater’s 2m19.911s benchmark, and Nakamura improved in fourth before red flags waved due to Evans GP’s Hiyu Yamakoshi losing his rear-right wheel while on track.

Green flags waved again 21 minutes in, and five minutes later Nakamura got within 0.296s of Slater. KCMG Pinnacle Motorsport driver Mari Boya reduced the gap to 0.215s a few seconds later, before team-mate Theophile Nael lowered the pace to 2m19.438s.

Deligny had clean air and when he crossed the line he went fastest by 0.83s, and 40s later Kato rose to second with a laptime 0.204s off.

Wurz later set a personal best in fourth, then Boya was 0.012s slower than Kato with his next effort. Nael, in his slipstream, lowered the pace again to 2m18.107s and the next driver to challenge him was Slater who got within 0.12s of his benchmark.

Kato next crossed the line with just over 10 minutes to go and set a 2m18.804s to go gastest, with team-mate Kanato Le 0.792s off in fourth before yellow flags waved at Lisboa due to Deligny going off.

Slater’s response was a 2m17.450s, snatching back top spot by 0.354s, and on his next lap Le improved again in fourth.

The Pinnacle drivers continued to run together and Boya got within 0.292s of Slater with seven minutes remaining, only for Nael to instantly demote him as he lapped 0.078s faster. Yellow flags appeared at turn 10 due to a driver stopping, but personal bests were still set and Nakamura went fifth fastest by four-and-a-half minutes to go by lapping in the 2m17s.

Shortly after, Slater seta 2m16.742s that put him 0.922s clear. Deligny moved ahead of Nakamura in the final four minutes, then Kato went 0.33s quicker than Slater with just over three minutes to go. Le was 0.831s off his team-mate, but that was good enough for third, as their other team-mate Evan Giltaire took fifth place.

New benchmarks in sectors three and four were set by Boya after that, but when he crossed the line he was 0.171s shy of Kato, while Deligny improved to 2m17.016s in fourth with one-and-a-half minutes left of FP1.

Le went fourth and Giltaire set a personal best in sixth during the final minute, and after the chequered flag Slater missed out on beating Kato by just 0.044s.

Deligny found more pace to be 0.319s back in fifth, with Giltaire improving yet again in sixth to edge ahead of Le.

Free practice results

The post ART GP’s Taito Kato tops FP1 for the Macau GP appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau Grand Prix

The full entry list for the 2025 Macau Grand Prix has been published, with 27 drivers lining up to win the second edition of the FIA Formula Regional World Cup.

Two-time grand prix winner Charles Leong is returning with Prema, last year’s winning team team R-ace GP is returning with three FRegional frontrunners, while Pinnacle Motorsport, Sainteloc Racing and TOM’S are all entering two cars each.

The other five teams — ART Grand Prix, Evans GP, PHM Racing, Trident and Van Amersfoort Racing — are all fielding three-car line-ups.

ART GP will run its FRegional European Championship line-up of Evan Giltaire, Taito Kato and Kanato Le, who sit sixth, ninth and 14th in the standings there with one round to go. Giltaire and Le drove for the team in Macau last year, with both retiring.

Evans GP will field Hiyu Yamakoshi, 16th in FRegional Middle East at the start of this year and currently eighth in FREC, alongside teenaged brothers Charlie and Oscar Wurz.

Charlie, the older of the two, has spent three years in single-seaters’ third tier and took two FIA Formula 3 Championship podiums this season. He entered Macau in 2023, and retired.

Oscar, the 2024 Formula 4 Central European Zone champion, was 14th in Eurocup-3’s winter series at the start of 2025 and is currently 18th in the main championship. He will miss the season finale since both it and the Macau GP take place on November 14-16.

PHM Racing has signed Euroformula title contender Jose Garfias, Eurocup-3 champion and Eurocup-3 winter series runner-up Mattia Colnaghi and FREC part-timer and FRegional Oceania points-scorer Enzo Yeh. Colnaghi was classified 14th in the 2024 Macau GP.

Noah Stromsted and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who both won races en route to sixth and seventh in the FIA F3 Championship this year, will drive for Trident alongside Reza Seeworuthun. He is contending to become GB3 runner-up at Monza this weekend

Completing the grid with VAR are Euroformula points leader Tymek Kucharczyk, FRegional Japanese Championship leader Kiyoshi Umegaki and Newman Chi. He will be the least experienced driver in the grand prix, having spent less than a year in car racing so far.

In that time the 16-year-old from mainland China has come fifth in the United Arab Emirates-based Formula Trophy and Italian F4, and ninth in F4 Middle East. He has FRegional experience from two FREC outings.

The post Wurz brothers to be team-mates and other F3 stars to race in Macau GP appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Macau Grand Prix

Prema has announced its line-up for this year’s Macau Grand Prix, which features a two-time winner of the event.

The 2025 edition will be the second to run for Formula Regional cars, and award the FIA FRegional World Cup. It takes place on November 13-16, the same weekend as the Eurocup-3 season finale.

Driving Prema’s three cars in Macau will be Rashid Al Dhaheri, Charles Leong and Freddie Slater.

Al Dhaheri came sixth in FRegional Middle East this year and is currently seventh in the FRegional European Championship, both in Prema-run cars and with Slater as his team-mate. He was FRME runner-up and leads FREC.

In 2024, Al Dhaheri was disqualified from the Macau GP but was third in the supporting Formula 4 race the year before. Slater was ninth in that F4 race, and was classified 13th in last year’s grand prix.

Leong has been busy racing in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia in recent years, and has contested the Macau GP five times in his career. The local talent’s first two entries into the race were during its Formula 3 era, then he starred when it switched to being a race for F4 cars.

He took pole, won the qualification race and the main race in both 2020 and ’21, then in 2022 qualified third, gained one place in the qualification race and finished on the grand prix podium in third.

R-ace GP ran Ugo Ugochukwu to victory in the inaugural FRegional World Cup, and the French team will be attempting to defend its victory with Enzo Deligny, Matteo De Palo and Jin Nakamura.

Deligny and De Palo are currently fighting Slater for the FREC title, and came fifth and 19th respectively in FRME. Nakamura was 10th in FRME and sits 10th in the FREC standings with one round to go.

At last year’s Macau GP, Deligny finished fourth, Nakamura retired and De Palo was disqualified.

Another winning team on the grid is TOM’S, which will field an all-Japanese line-up of Yuki Sano and Tokiya Suzuki.

Sano is currently second in his home country’s F3-level Super Formula Lights championship, and Suzuki sits second in the FRegional Japanese Championship standings with one round remaining.

Pinnacle Motorsport and Sainteloc Racing will also only be entering two cars each rather than three.

Mari Boya and Theophile Nael, who came third and eighth respectively in the FIA F3 Championship this year, will drive for Pinnacle. Nael was disqualified on his Macau GP debut in 2024, while Boya finished seventh after coming fourth in 2023.

Sainteloc has two Macau debutants: James Egozi and Egozi Tangavelou.

Egozi began 2025 by coming third in the Eurocup-3 winter series, and is currently seventh in the main championship. He could drop out of the top 10 in the standings by missing the final round to race in Macau.

Tangavelou was fourth in Eurocup-3 last year, and claimed a podium in its non-championship event. His 2025 has been split between part-time campaigns in USF Pro 2000 and then Eurocup-3.

The post Charles Leong to pursue a third Macau GP win with Prema appeared first on Formula Scout.