Race details Date 16 November 2008 Official name 55th Windsor Arch Macau Grand Prix Location Guia Circuit, Macau Course Temporary street circuit Distance Qualifying Race10 laps, Main Race15 laps, Weather Qualifying Race: Sunny and dryMain Race: Sunny and dry Qualifying Race Pole Driver Carlo van Dam TOM'S Time 2:11.846 Fastest Lap Driver Brendon Hartley Carlin Time 2:13.169 (on lap 6 of 10) Podium First Edoardo Mortara Signature-Plus Second Keisuke Kunimoto TOM'S Third Roberto Streit Räikkönen Robertson Racing Main Race Pole Driver Edoardo Mortara Signature-Plus Fastest Lap Driver Brendon Hartley Carlin Time 2:12.565 (on lap 15 of 15) Podium First Keisuke Kunimoto TOM'S Second Edoardo Mortara Signature-Plus Third Brendon Hartley Carlin The 2008 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 55th Windsor Arch Macau Grand Prix) was a Formula Three (F3) car race held on the streets of Macau on 16 November 2008. Unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, the 2008 Macau Grand Prix was not part of any F3 championship, but was open to entries from any F3 championship. The event consisted of two races: a ten-lap qualifying race that set the starting grid for the fifteen-lap main race. The 2008 race was the 55th Macau Grand Prix and the 26th for F3 cars.

TOM'S driver Keisuke Kunimoto won the Grand Prix on his debut in Macau, after finishing second in the previous day's Qualification Race won by Signature-Plus driver Edoardo Mortara. Kunimoto led from the start and held on to become the first Japanese driver to win in Macau since Takuma Sato in 2001, and it was TOM'S second consecutive victory in the Grand Prix. Mortara finished second, with Carlin driver Brendon Hartley in third.

Background and entry list

The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three (F3) race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and has been termed the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The 2008 Macau Grand Prix was the event's 55th running and the 26th time it was held to F3 rules. It took place on the 22-turn Guia Circuit on 16 November 2008 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.

Drivers had to race in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated championship meeting in 2008, either in the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy or one of the domestic championships, with the highest-placed drivers earning priority in being invited to the race. Two of the four major F3 series were represented on the 30-car grid by their respective champions. Nico Hülkenberg, the Formula 3 Euro Series champion, missed the race because he was entered in a GP2 Series test session at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Thus, Edoardo Mortara was the highest placed Formula 3 Euro Series competitor in Macau, joined by British champion Jaime Alguersuari and Japanese series winner Carlo van Dam. Laurens Vanthoor was the top performing driver in the German championship, and the Australian Drivers' Championship winner James Winslow accepted an invitation to race in Macau from race organisers. The race featured three drivers from outside of F3: Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 racer Roberto Merhi, Roberto Streit of Formula Nippon and Formula V6 Asia driver Michael Ho.

Practice and qualifying

The Sunday race was preceded by two half-hour practice sessions: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. Despite making a minor error on the lap, Mortara was fastest for Signature-Plus at 2 minutes, 14.333 seconds late in the session, seven-tenths of a second faster than anyone else on the circuit. He was followed by Renger van der Zande, Streit, Van Dam, James Jakes, Stefano Coletti, Alguersuari, Merhi and the British duo of Jon Lancaster and Sam Bird. During the session, where the top of the time sheets was shared by multiple drivers, Brendon Hartley missed the second half due to a gearbox problem. Mika Mäki crashed heavily at Fisherman's Bend, requiring red flags before the session's halfway point. Kazuya Oshima and Walter Grubmüller went into the wall separately at Maternity Bend. Mäki was transported to the circuit's medical centre for precautionary checks after complaining of abdominal pains and was advised to rest.

Qualifying was split into two 45-minute sessions, one on Thursday afternoon and one on Friday afternoon. Each driver's fastest time from either session counted toward their final starting place in the qualification race. Mortara was fastest in the first qualifying session, held in warm and sunny weather, with a time of 2 minutes, 12.416 seconds, and led throughout. Van Dam in second was three-tenths of a second slower. Streit was second twice but finished third. Hartley recovered from gearbox problems earlier in the day to run strongly for provisional fourth place. Van Der Zande was consistent and took fifth. He was followed by the highest-placed rookie Alguersuari in sixth. Bird was seventh. Jules Bianchi and his teammate Jakes were eighth and tenth, separated by Oliver Turvey. Marcus Ericsson, eleventh, was high as sixth in the session's opening minutes. Following him were Keisuke Kunimoto, Kei Cozzolino, Coletti, the Hitech Racing duo of Max Chilton and Merhi, Winslow, Grubmüller, Oshima and Daniel Campos-Hull, Laurens Vanthoor, Atte Mustonen, Basil Shaaban, Cheng Congfu, Lancaster, Masaki Matsushita, Ho and Nicola de Marco. The only driver to go under the minimum qualification time was Koki Saga. The session was stopped three times. Jakes' car got unsettled on the tarmac entering Fisherman's Bend on a faster lap and hit the outside barriers, littering the track with debris. De Marco struck the Fisherman's Bend barriers and angled across the circuit. Matsushita spun towards the track's centre after hitting the barriers at Police corner with one minute left. Mortara and Vanthoor could not avoid his stranded car and piled into it. For ignoring the red light signal which mandated he enter the weighbridge, the stewards order Matsushita to start last for the qualification race.

Mäki returned to the circuit on the morning of the second 30-minute practice session and was declared fit to compete. He revealed that he had food poisoning which worsened while driving and combated this by sleeping heavily the previous day. The start was delayed by 50 minutes due to multiple crashes in practice for the touring car support races. Mortara concentrated on race setup and set a benchmark time of 2 minutes, 13.054 seconds by slipstreaming another car into Mandarin Bend. Van Dam was 0.117 seconds slower in second and a full second faster than Cozzolino in third. Alguersuari, Turvey, Merhi, Hartley, Ericsson, Van Der Zande ninth and Streit were in positions four to ten. De Marco spun at Fisherman's Bend, stopping practice as he was adjudged to be in a dangerous place. Alguersuari damaged his car's left side and removed his rear wing in a crash against the San Francisco End barriers which halted the session for a second time. The two other incidents during the session were Mäki suffered a puncture and spent most of the session in the pit lane, while Van Dam braked late for Lisboa corner and stopped on the escape road.

Van Dam improved on Mortara's lap from the first qualifying session until Mustonen went off the track at Police corner and the yellow flags flew. Drivers with new tyres had them fitted and adjusted their cars halfway through the second qualifying session. Matsushita then crashed near Police turn, and his car was removed from the track. Mortara then regained provisional pole, until the session was stopped when Bianchi ran wide exiting the Reservoir Bend and hit the tyre barriers at the end of the turn. His left rear wheel flew onto the track's centre. Bird was the first driver all weekend to go under 2 minutes, 11 seconds, before red flags were needed for Cozzolino whose heavy crash at Fisherman's Bend left debris on the track. Van Dam slightly deranged his steering arm at the restart, but used a clear track to beat Bird and take pole position with a 2-minute, 11.846 second lap. This demoted Bird to second having been delayed by a slow-moving Grubmüller. Kunimoto used the slipstream of another car to take third, while the previous day's provisional pole sitter Mortara was fourth. Streit dropped two spots to fifth, while Merhi climbed nine spots to sixth. Van Der Zande in seventh did not slipstream other cars to avoid being delayed in the track's tight section. Turvey was as high as third but was eighth with Alguersuari ninth and Jakes tenth. The rest of the field lined up as Hartley, Coletti (who crashed at Police turn and blocked the track), Chilton, Mäki, Ericsson, Oshimi, Bianchi, Cozzolino, Grubmüller, Cheng, Campos-Hull, Winslow, Lancaster, Shabban, Saga, Mustonen, Vanthoor (who set no lap time as he crashed on his out-lap), Matsushita, Ho and De Marco. Bird was demoted three positions on the grid after qualifying for failing to signal to enter the weighbridge during second practice.

Qualifying classification Each of the driver's fastest lap times from the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold. +Final qualifying classification Driver Team 1 1 Carlo van DamTOM'S 2:12.772 22:11.846 1— 1 2 21 Sam BirdManor Motorsport 2:13.722 72:11.988 2 +0.142 5 3 2 Keisuke KunimotoTOM'S 2:14.696 122:12.039 3 +0.293 2 4 7 Edoardo MortaraSignature-Plus 2:12.416 12:12.044 4 +0.298 3 5 11 Roberto StreitRäikkönen Robertson Racing 2:13.153 32:12.061 5 +0.315 4 6 20 Roberto MerhiHitech Racing 2:15.574 162:12.369 6 +0.618 6 7 16 Renger van der ZandePrema Powerteam 2:13.607 52:12.402 7 +0.653 7 8 3 Oliver TurveyCarlin 2:14.208 92:12.404 8 +0.655 8 9 4 Jaime AlguersuariCarlin 2:13.669 62:12.412 9 +0.661 9 10 15 James JakesART Grand Prix 2:14.459 102:12.423 10 +0.672 10 11 5 Brendon HartleyCarlin 2:13.348 42:12.573 11 +0.722 11 12 17 Stefano ColettiPrema Powerteam 2:14.788 142:12.835 12 +0.984 12 13 18 Max ChiltonHitech Racing 2:15.007 152:12.869 13 +1.018 13 14 9 Mika MäkiSignature-Plusno time 2:12.942 14 +1.091 14 15 6 Marcus EricssonCarlin 2:14.664 112:12.988 15 +1.135 15 16 22 Kazuya OshimaManor Motorsport 2:15.985 192:13.110 16 +1.157 16 17 14 Jules BianchiART Grand Prix 2:13.840 82:13.124 17 +1.171 17 18 24 Kei Cozzolino Now Motor Sports 2:14.779 132:13.504 18 +1.551 18 19 19 Walter GrubmüllerHitech Racing 2:15.731 182:13.710 19 +1.757 19 20 8 Cheng CongfuSignature-Plus 2:17.050 242:13.777 20 +1.844 20 21 28 Daniel Campos-Hull HBR Motorsport 2:16.345 202:14.325 21 +2.392 21 22 27 James WinslowOmbra Racing 2:15.638 172:14.399 22 +2.466 22 23 23 Jon LancasterManor Motorsport 2:17.490 252:14.620 23 +2.687 23 24 29 Basil Shaaban HBR Motorsport 2:16.939 232:15.412 24 +3.479 24 25 25 Koki Saga Le Beausset Motorsports 2:26.492 2:15.969 25 +4.036 25 26 10 Atte MustonenRäikkönen Robertson Racing 2:16.675 222:16.029 26 +4.096 26 27 30 Laurens VanthoorRC Motorsport2:16.464 21no time +4.531 27 28 26 Masaki MatsushitaPTRS by Ombra2:18.059 26 2:18.667 25 +6.126 30 29 12 Michael HoRäikkönen Robertson Racing 2:18.415 272:18.606 27 +5.078 28 30 31 Nicola de MarcoRC Motorsport2:18.668 28no time +5.140 29 Notes:  – Sam Bird was penalised three places on the grid for failing to obey a signal to enter the weighbridge during the second practice session.  – Masaki Matsushita was relegated to the back of the grid after ignoring a signal to enter the weighbridge during the first qualifying session.

Qualifying race