Race details Date 22 November 2015 Official name 62nd Suncity Groupo Macau Grand Prix Location Guia Circuit, Macau Course Temporary street circuit Distance Qualifying Race10 laps, Main Race15 laps, Weather Qualifying Race: Cloudy; , Main Race: Cloudy; , Qualifying Race Pole Driver Time 2:10.474 Fastest Lap Driver Time 2:10.330 (on lap 9) Podium First Felix Rosenqvist Theodore Racing by Prema Second Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing Third Alexander Sims Double R Racing Main Race Pole Driver Fastest Lap Driver Time 2:10.186 (on lap 15) Podium First Felix Rosenqvist Theodore Racing by Prema Second Charles Leclerc Van Amersfoort Racing Third Alexander Sims Double R Racing The 2015 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 62nd Suncity Group Macau Grand Prix - FIA F3 Intercontinental Cup) was a motor race for Formula Three cars that was held on the streets of Macau on 22 November 2015. Unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, the 2015 Macau Grand Prix was not a part of any Formula Three championship, but was open to entries from all Formula Three championships. The race itself was made up of two races: a ten-lap qualifying race that decided the starting grid for the fifteen-lap main race. The 2015 race was the 62nd running of the Macau Grand Prix and the 33rd for Formula Three cars.
The Grand Prix was won by Theodore Racing by Prema driver Felix Rosenqvist from pole position, having won the Qualification Race the previous afternoon after the on the road victor Antonio Giovinazzi was penalised 20 seconds for a first lap crash. Rosenqvist led the majority of the main race to clinch his second consecutive Macau Grand Prix victory, the first time this had happened since Edoardo Mortara won the 2009 and 2010 races. Second place went to the highest placed rookie driver, Charles Leclerc for Van Amersfoort Racing, while the podium was completed by Double R Racing driver Alexander Sims.
Entry list and background The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and is the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The 2015 Macau Grand Prix was the 62nd running of the event and the 33rd time that the race was held to Formula Three regulations. It took place on the 22-turn Guia Circuit on 22 November 2015 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.
In order to compete in Macau, drivers had to compete in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated championship meeting during the calendar year, in either the FIA Formula Three European Championship or one of the domestic championships, with drivers placed high up in the rankings of these respective championships given priority in receiving an invitation to the meeting. Within the 28-car grid of the event, two of the three major Formula Three series were represented by their respective champion. Defending race winner Felix Rosenqvist, the Formula Three European champion, was joined in Macau by Japanese series winner Nick Cassidy. As was the case in 2014, Euroformula Open racer Yu Kanamaru was a late addition to the entry list at Carlin after George Russell was withdrawn from the race.
Three drivers who mainly competed in other series outside of Formula Three in 2015 became eligible for the Macau race: British GT driver Alexander Sims competed in the Formula Three European Championship in the Algarve International Circuit round in order to become eligible. Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters racer Daniel Juncadella had to wait until his main series campaign had concluded before sealing his eligibility; he took part in the Euroformula Open Championship, a second-tier Formula Three series in Europe, in its season-ending round at the Hockenheimring. Super GT participant Yuhi Sekiguchi sealed his eligibility for the Macau Grand Prix by competing in the All-Japan Formula Three round at Twin Ring Motegi.
At the start of 2015, the Macau Grand Prix coordinator Barry Bland discussed the implementation of the virtual safety car (VSC) system with race director Charlie Whiting during the drawing up of the race's sporting regulations. Provision for the system was implemented into the regulations and would help save a large amount of time as well as aiding drivers in blind corners. Thus the Grand Prix was designated a "test race" for the VSC in order for the system to be written into the 2016 Formula Three European Championship regulations.
Practice and qualifying
There were two 45-minute practice sessions preceding the Sunday race: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. Antonio Giovinazzi set the fastest lap for Carlin in the opening practice session of 2 minutes, 13.829 seconds, nearly eight-tenths of a second faster than anyone else. His closest challenger was Felix Rosenqvist who fought Giovinazzi for the top spot. Markus Pommer was third-fastest, ahead of the Japanese trio of Kenta Yamashita, Sekiguchi and Kanamaru. Cassidy, Lance Stroll, Mitsunori Takaboshi and Alexander Albon rounded out the session's top ten drivers. The session was red flagged twice: Jake Dennis crashed into the right-hand wall at the Solitude Esses after sustaining a puncture 20 minutes in, and Callum Ilott struck the barrier at the left-hand turn before Faraway corner with nine minutes left. Two other drivers, Sims and Zhi Cong Li, crashed at Lisboa turn but no stoppages were necessitated because both cars were retrieved from the track without difficulty.
Qualifying was divided into two sessions; the first was held on Thursday afternoon and ran for 40 minutes with the second held on Friday afternoon and lasting for 30 minutes. The fastest time set by each driver from either session counted towards his final starting position for the qualification race. The first qualifying session had Rosenqvist come out on top with a time of 2 minutes, 11.842 seconds on the session's final lap with new tyres. He was eight-tenths of a second quicker than Ilott in second with teammate Giovinazzi another thousandth of a second slower in third. Ilott and Giovinazzi led at various points in the session before Rosenqvist's last lap effort. Sam MacLeod improved on his last lap to finish fourth after four new tyres were installed at his pit stop. On his last timed lap, Juncadella recovered from an earlier free practice gearbox problem to place provisionally fifth. Having been in contention, Pommer finished sixth, with Sekiguci and Mikkel Jensen in close proximity on the time sheets. Gustavo Menezes and Sims rounded out the top ten. Following them were Charles Leclerc, Kanamaru, Stroll and Arjun Maini, Alessio Lorandi, Dennis–whose air restrictor fell off his car and then had gearbox issues–Dorian Boccolacci, Yamashita, Santino Ferrucci, Cassidy, Albon, Sérgio Sette Câmara, Martin Cao, Ryan Tveter, Takaboshi, Matt Solomon, Zhi Cong Li and Wing Chung Chang. The session passed relatively smoothly, with only Sette Câmara crashing and then stopping at San Francisco Hill to prevent further damage en route to the pit lane.
In the second 45-minute practice session, Pommer fought with Rosenqvist and Leclerc for the top spot until the former set a benchmark past the midpoint of the session and the time he set of 2 minutes, 11.102 (which was the fastest of the race meeting at that point) remained fastest until the conclusion of the second practice session. Rosenqvist followed three-tenths of a second adrift in second and Leclerc continued his progression up the time sheets to third. Giovinazzi was the last driver to be within one second of the pace set by Pommer's in fourth. Stroll, Juncadella, Dennis, Jensen and the British pairing of MacLeod and Ilott composed positions six to ten. Three crashes occurred during the session as Stroll went straight into a barrier at the Melco hairpin and Boccalacci triggered the sole stoppage with an error that heavily damaged his car against the wall at the exit of San Francisco Bend. Cao lost control of his vehicle at Paiol corner and damaged its right-hand side suspension in an impact with the barrier but entered the pit lane for repairs.
The second qualifying session was delayed due to multiple crashes during qualifying for the FIA GT World Cup support race. When the session did begin and before any competitor could record a timed lap, the first of two red flags was waved for Ilott who hit a barrier exiting the San Francisco Bend. Later Melco hairpin was blocked when Menezes attempted to return to pit lane after a driver error at Moorish turn. He could not get enough steering lock and understeered into a wall. Lorandi could not react quickly enough and ploughed into Menezes's rear. Lorandi's rear in turn was hit by a Signature car. Rosenqvist continued his strong form from Thursday's qualifying and set the pace again before Leclerc usurped his time halfway through. Rosenqvist had new tyres installed and returned to the top. He later improved with a lap of 2 minutes, 10.474 seconds in response to Juncadella getting close to his pace. The session was abandoned with four minutes remaining when Giovinazzi crashed at the left-hand corner before Maternity Bend. Thus, Rosenqvist took pole position by 0.213 seconds from Juncadella. Leclerc moved from eleventh to start third and was the best placed rookie driver. Giovinazzi fell from third to fourth. Pommer was in the top three for most of the session before finishing fifth. However he incurred a two-place grid penalty for impeding another car during qualifying. MacLeod and Sette Câmara inherited fifth and sixth as a result of Pommer's penalty. Pommer was ahead of a close trio of cars driven by Macau rookies. Maini, Lorandi and Stroll were in positions eight through ten. The sixth row was adorned by the Mücke Motorsport cars of Ferrucci and Jensen. The rest of the grid lined up as the British duo of Sims and Dennis, Albon, Sekiguchi, Tveter, Ilott, the Japanese pair of Kanamaru and Takaboshi, Chang, Cao, Yamashita, Cassidy, Menezes, Boccolacci, Solomon and Zhi.
Qualifying classification Each of the driver's fastest lap times from the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold.