Guia Race of Macau
The WTCR Race of Macau, previously Guia Race of Macau and WTCC Guia Race of Macau, is an international touring car race, and currently a round of the World Touring Car Cup. It is held on the temporary 6.2 km Guia Circuit on the streets of Ma ...
as part of the
World Touring Car Championship
The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...
. It was held on 20 November 2011 on the
Guia Circuit
The Guia Circuit, or Circuito da Guia, is a street circuit located at the southeast region of the Macau Peninsula in Macau. It is the venue of the Macau Grand Prix and Guia Race of Macau. The circuit consists of long straights and tight corners ...
in the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. The race was part of the
Macau Grand Prix
The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...
Robert Huff
Robert Peter "Rob" Huff (born 25 December 1979) is a British professional racing driver. He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) driving for Zengő Motorsport. He was the 2012 World Touring Car Championship champion and the ...
Yvan Muller
Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969 in Altkirch, Haut-Rhin) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 with Chevro ...
claimed his third world drivers' championship title, his second in a row.
Kristian Poulsen
Kristian Poulsen (born 18 November 1975) is a Danish auto racing driver, who currently competes in touring car racing.
Career
He made his debut in the FIA World Touring Car Championship in 2008 with a part season. For 2009 he will compete a ful ...
secured the
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
Independent Drivers' Trophy title.
Background
Coming into the final round, Muller was leading the drivers' championship with Huff second as the only other driver in mathematical contention for the title. Poulsen was leading the Yokohama Independents' Trophy.
Yukinori Taniguchi
is a Japanese businessperson and auto racing driver. He founded Yuke's, a video game developer company, in Sakai, Osaka in 1993.
Early career
As a child, Taniguchi became an enthusiastic arcade gamer, spending much time on early arcade games such ...
did not take part in the round due to damage sustained at the Race of China, leaving
bamboo-engineering
Craft-Bamboo Racing is an auto racing team. It was founded in 2014 after the merger of Craft Racing from Hong Kong and Bamboo Engineering from the United Kingdom.
Craft Racing was established by Frank Yu in 2009 and was a front running team in ...
to run a single car for
Darryl O'Young
Darryl Hayden O'Young () is a Canadian-born Hong Kong racing driver.
Career Early career
O'Young began racing in 1988 at the age of eight. Trained by his father he honed his driving skills in karting winning numerous championships. The highlight ...
Colin Turkington
Colin Henry Turkington (born 21 March 1982) is a British racing driver from Northern Ireland who competes in the British Touring Car Championship for Team BMW. He is a 4 time BTCC champion, winning the title in 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2019, havi ...
at
Wiechers-Sport
Wiechers-Sport is a German auto racing team which is based in Nienburg. The team was first established in 1999, competing in German touring cars. The team currently competes in the World Touring Car Championship.
World Touring Car Championship
B ...
, the Canadian making his debut in the series having competed in the
Canadian Touring Car Championship
Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) presented by Pirelli is a Canadian professional touring car road racing series. In 2006, it was created based on the growth of amateur touring car racing in Canada and the pent-up demand for a professional ...
in 2011. Having wrapped up the Jay–Ten Trophy for drivers in natural aspirated cars,
Fabio Fabiani
Fabio Fabiani (born 13 October 1974 in Ravenna) is an Italian auto racing driver.
Moto Bike Career
He started in Italian Sport Production Championship in 1994 moving to Italian 125cc in 1995. After Military Service in 1996 he raced in the Itali ...
Jo Merszei
Joseph Rosa Merszei (born 6 April 1974 in Hong Kong) is an auto racing driver from Macau.
Career history
Early years
Merszei competed in touring car racing in Asia-Pacific and Hong Kong championships between 1991 and 1996.http://www.fiawtcc.com/D ...
. Four other local drivers joined the grid for the round with
André Couto
André Couto (; born 14 December 1976) is a MacaneseSUNRED Engineering for his annual appearance at the race,
RPM Racing Team
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...
Mak Ka Lok
Mak Ka Lok (; born 17 August 1965) is a Macanese race car driver.
Mak has raced in Touring Car Championships within Asia and drove the final two rounds of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship in a BMW 320sihttp://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/0211 ...
Chevrolet Lacetti
The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car manufactured and marketed globally by GM Korea since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan and five-door station wagon, styled by Pininfarina—and five-door hatchback styled b ...
s for
Felipe De Souza
Filipe Clemente de Souza (born 26 October 1976) is a Macanese race driver.
He has competed in the Macau Hotel Fortuna Trophy from 2000 to 2003 with a best finish of fourth in 2003. Since 2003 he has been competing in the Macau Touring Car Champio ...
and
Kuok Io Keong
Kuok Io Keong (born 12 April 1976 in Macau) is best known as a race driver.
He has raced in the Macau and Asian Touring Car Championships and will race for Corsa Motorsport in the final round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship
The FIA ...
Swedish Touring Car Championship
Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) was a touring car racing series based in Sweden, but also with rounds in Norway. They began operating in 1996, heavily influenced by the British Touring Car Championship and the success of BTCC racing on Sw ...
Peugeot 308
The Peugeot 308 is a small family car produced by French automaker Peugeot. It was unveiled in June 2007, and launched in September 2007. The 308 replaced the 307, and positioned below the 508 and above the smallest 208.
The 308 is followed by a ...
for
Lo Ka Chun
Lo Ka Chun () born 11 November in Hong Kong, China is best known as a race driver.
Racing extensively throughout Asia he has won the Asian Touring Car Championship and Chinese Touring Car Championship during his career. He also won the Macau Cup ...
.
Race report
Testing and free practice
The track was damp before the start of testing on Thursday, the session started half an hour late due to barrier repairs. Huff set the fastest time, beating team–mate Muller on his final lap.
Charles Ng
Charles Chi-tat Ng (born Ng Chitat) ( zh, t=吳志達, j=ng4 zi3 daat6; born 24 December 1960) is a convicted Hong Kong-born serial killer who committed numerous crimes in the United States. He is believed to have raped, tortured, and murdered ...
brought the red flags out when he hit the barriers at the Melco Hairpin and came to a halt. After going through scrutineering after the session, the 778 Auto Sport Peugeot was found not to comply with its original documentation from when it was run in the STCC. As a result, the team was excluded from the rest of the event.
Alain Menu
Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice ...
led a
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
1–2–3 in the first free practice session on Friday morning,
Tiago Monteiro
Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...
was best of the rest in fourth.
Huff was back on top in free practice two at the head of another Chevrolet 1–2–3.
Javier Villa
Javier Villa García (born 5 October 1987) is a Spanish racing driver living in Arriondas, Asturias, Spain. He drove in the GP2 Series from 2006 towards 2009. In 2010 he switched to touring cars, driving at the Spanish Mini Challenge and later th ...
crashed his
Proteam Racing
Proteam Motorsport is an Italian auto racing team based in Arezzo that was set up by former driver Valmiro Presenzini in 1997. They are best known for their efforts in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Their time in the WTCC has seen them be ...
BMW 320 TC
The BMW 320 TC is a racing car built under Super 2000 specifications, which competed in the FIA World Touring Car Championship from 2011 to 2014. The car came into use as a customer car, after BMW ended their WTCC factory program at the end of th ...
at Paiol but the session was stopped early after
Fredy Barth
Frédéric Nicolas "Fredy" Barth (born 5 December 1979 in Lucerne) is an auto racing driver from Switzerland. He currently drives in the World Touring Car Championship.
Racing career
Early years
Barth started out in karting before stepping up to ...
crashed at Faraway. Having come to a stop in the middle of the track, the front of the car caught fire and once Barth was extracted from the wreckage he was taken to the local hospital for precautionary checks.
Qualifying
The two championship contenders filled the front row with Huff securing pole position for race one ahead of Muller.
Robert Dahlgren
Robert Dahlgren (born 1 December 1979 in Skellefteå) is a Swedish auto racing driver who currently competes for the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship. He previously competed in Australia and New Zealand for a single season in the V8 Superca ...
topped the first session putting him tenth for race two,
Franz Engstler
Franz Engstler (born 25 July 1961) is a German auto racing driver.
Racing career
Born in Kempten im Allgäu, Engstler started racing in the European Hillclimbing Championship and the German Long Distance Cup, which he won. From 1988 he competed ...
was tenth at the end of Q1 to take pole position for the second race ahead of
Michel Nykjær
Michel Nykjær (born 17 September 1979) is a Danish auto racing driver. Nykjær is a two-time European Touring Car Cup winner.
Career
Early years
Between 1989 and 1993 he spent his early racing years in karting. After a break, he returned to mo ...
and Huff. Menu was the biggest name to drop out of qualifying in the first session, a late collision with Couto hindering him in the final moments. There was a confrontation between the two drivers after the session before Menu left the circuit. Barth had missed the session having been kept in hospital following his practice crash.
The second session was interrupted by a red flag when Dahlgren's
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
crashed at the Solitude Esses, like Barth his car burst into flames shortly after the accident. Dahlgren got out of the car but required medical attention afterwards, and did not start the races. When the session resumed, Huff secured pole position having beaten Muller on both his flying laps,
Gabriele Tarquini
Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He ...
was third while O'Young was the quickest independent driver in bamboo's only car. O'Young and Nykjær were the only two Yokohama Trophy title contenders who made it through to the second session.
Warm-Up
Huff was quickest in Sunday morning's warm–up session. The session came to a close early when
Aleksei Dudukalo
Aleksey Nikolayevich Dudukalo ( rus, Алексе́й Никола́евич Дудука́ло, p=ɐlʲɪˈksej nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ dʊdʊˈkalə; born 6 October 1976, in Moscow) is a Russian auto racing driver. He raced in the World Touring ...
hit the barriers at Faraway Hill before coming to a halt in the middle of the track and being hit by the Proteam BMW of Ma.
Race One
Huff started from pole position and he kept his lead at the start followed by Muller and Tarquini. Further back Couto spun at the high speed Mandarin corner and collected Menu, the safety car picked up the field at the end of the lap as the debris was cleared. The race was resumed on lap five, Monteiro went straight on down the escape road at the Lisboa corner and dropped to near the back of the field. At the same time, O'Young and
Mehdi Bennani
Mehdi Bennani ( ar, مهدي بناني, born 25 August 1983) is a Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the TCR Europe with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He was TCR Europe Champion in 2020 with the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing.
He became ...
made contact and the safety car was required again. The safety car went in at the end of lap seven, on lap nine Dudukalo crashed at Moorish Hill although the race was able to continue. The narrow streets of Macau usually see very little overtaking, on lap ten there were two intra–team battles going on with Engstler getting past team–mate Poulsen to take sixth while Bennani overtook Proteam team–mate Villa for the final points paying position. Bennani moved up another place on the final lap at the expense of
Pepe Oriola
Josep "Pepe" Oriola Vila (born 9 July 1994) is a Spanish racing driver. He became the youngest driver to race in the World Touring Car Championship when he competed in the 2011 season. Oriola is not only the youngest driver to start a WTCC race ...
as Huff won the race to reduce the championship points gap by seven points to Muller who was second. Tarquini was third to take the final podium spot while Nykjær was the independents' winner in fifth.
Race Two
Engstler was on pole position while O'Young started from the pit lane. Coronel took the start from fourth at the start with Nykjær and Huff following. Huff then moved up to second place while Engstler lost another place to Muller and moved down to sixth, he was down to eighth by the second lap when he was passed by Tarquini and Michelisz. Huff passed Coronel for the lead at Lisboa on lap three while Muller closed in on Huff by taking fourth from Bennani. The safety car came out shortly after when Kwok crashed at Mandarin and brought out the safety car. The race resumed on lap six and one lap later, local drivers Mak and de Souza came together at Lisboa. Lap nine and Muller moved into the final podium place at the expense of Nykjær, two laps later Tarquini would demote the Danish driver to fifth. Huff won the second race of the day with Coronel second and Muller third who secured the drivers' title by three points. Nykjær was the independent winner once again while Poulsen claimed the independents' title.
Results
Qualifying
*Bold denotes ''Pole position'' for second race.
Race 1
*Bold denotes ''Fastest lap''.
Race 2
*Bold denotes ''Fastest lap''.
: — O'Young started from the pit lane.
Standings after the event
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings
;Manufacturers' Championship standings
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...