CRAFT-RACING NARROWLY MISSES OUT ON A MACAU GT CUP PODIUM AFTER THRILLING FIGHT BACK BY DARRYL O’YOUNG
After being on top in every session and winning the Qualification Race of the 2020 Macau GT Cup, a controversial post-race penalty meant that Darryl O’Young was relegated to 11th on the grid for the final race on Sunday. He produced a thrilling comeback drive, attacking and overtaking at the fast and narrow Guia street circuit and made his way up to 3rd, but due to a lap count-back from a red flag, was classified in 4th position.
In the sister #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3, Alex Liu impressed on his debut in the GT3 category at his home race, finishing 9th outright after being consistently in the top-ten in every session. The Macanese driver had a clean weekend at one of the most challenging tracks in the world, and confirmed Craft-Bamboo Racing’s strong weekend at the 67th Macau Grand Prix.
Darryl O’Young | Started P11, Finished P4
#95 Challenger Mercedes-AMG GT3
Darryl O’Young started the Macau Grand Prix weekend by being topping both practice sessions and then starting on pole position for the Qualification Race on Saturday. O’Young, at the wheel of the red and white #95 Challenger Mercedes-AMG GT3 took a convincing victory, giving himself the best chance to win the main race on Sunday.
However, a post-race penalty for an apparent start infringement meant that O’Young would start from 11th. O’Young was immediately on the attack as the 12-lap race got underway, passing 4 cars on the opening lap. A safety car then helped bring the gaps down, and he was right behind the cars in front. The grandstands were on their feet as O’Young seized an opportunity to pass as the cars in front were fighting, and was soon up to 4th place.
With the podium just in reach at the unforgiving Guia street circuit, O’Young made a daring move on the outside of Lisboa corner and moved up to 3rd place to the delight of the fans. He was immediately on the hunt, but just as he caught up to the 2nd placed car near the end of the lap, there was a huge crash at the high-speed Mandarin bend. The race was immediately red-flagged, which meant that O’Young’s overtake was not counted due to the standings counted-back one lap. Because of this, O’Young’s podium finish was taken away, leaving the 5-time Macau Grand Prix winner in 4th place.
Alex Liu Lic Ka | Started P8, Finished P9
#3 Mercedes-AMG GT3
Making his 21st appearance at the Macau Grand Prix, veteran driver Alex Liu took on his home race in the GT3 class for the first time. Despite the limited practice time, Liu made great strides with every passing session, and finished consistently in the top-10 in the practice and qualifying sessions.
At the main race on Sunday, Liu started with cars in close proximity and did well to avoid drama at the start. After the safety car period ended, Liu got into his rhythm and put pressure on the cars in front. Despite several efforts at the wheel of his Mercedes-AMG GT3, Liu was unable to find a way past and crossed the line in 9th place, sealing an impressive weekend at the Macau GT Cup.
Craft-Bamboo Racing would like to thank our sponsors Challenger Hong Kong, M Plus Live Macau, Theodore Racing, Aspec, Hong Kong Asia Medical Group, Kaze Origins, Evisu and LVGEM and all of our other partners for their continued support. The team would also like to thank the drivers, engineers and crew for the effort that allowed the team to be in contention for victory all weekend long.
QUOTES
Darryl O’Young | Driver #95 Challenger Mercedes-AMG GT3
“It was a fun race, obviously it was tough starting from 11th after the penalty, but I was just focused on the race and it went well. We had good pace as the car felt great and I was able to fight throughout the race. It was fun and we had good battles to entertain the race fans, but overall I’m disappointed with the weekend because the double win was there to take but that’s how Macau bites you sometimes.
All it takes is for one thing to happen to derail the whole weekend. It’s unfortunate that it happened but here we are in P4, which really should have been P3 but a red flag came out at the last couple of corners before we finished the lap so there was a lap count back to before my pass for 3rd. Big thanks to my entire team for the massive effort – all the team members from around the world that couldn’t travel due to the pandemic.
Thanks to everyone for the effort remotely as it took a lot of people to make this happen, but we got there at the end and it was fantastic. Thanks to Challenger and all my sponsors for the support during the build-up and during the week, Macau Grand Prix did not disappoint in 2020. Lastly, big congratulations to the Macau Government and the Macau Grand Prix Committee for hosting such a successful event during a difficult time.”
Source. Craft-Bamboo Racing
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