After a particularly chaotic Saturday on which neither of the two scheduled races ran due to problems relating to the track conditions, the 54th Macau Grand Prix has finally concluded with one single race that, fortunately, didn’t involve any setbacks.
The race winner turned out to be favourite Erno Kostamo who, after dominating each session and securing pole position, was able to reach the highest step of the podium and write a new page of history. The team Penz13 rider has become the first Finnish competitor to win at the Guia Circuit, but he is also the first non-Brit to win this century, considering that, since 1998, first place has always gone to a British road racer.
Rookies Datzer and Morais on the podium, Schoots 12th
Kostamo’s main rivals were German David Datzer and South Africa Sheridan Morais (who holds a Portuguese licence). Despite the fact this was their first visit to the “Las Vegas of the East” road circuit, they crossed the line in second and third place respectively. Both battled with the Finn during the first half of the race, before losing ground but nevertheless scoring strong results considering they were newcomers.
And speaking of riders competing at Macau for the first time, Lukas Maurer also stood out, finishing fourth ahead of the more experienced Rob Hodson, who was able to beat Julian Trummer to the line in the battle for fifth. Raul Torras also finished top ten, while Nadieh Schoots crossed the line twelfth, the first woman to ever complete the Macau GP on a motorcycle, during an edition that will be remembered for long to come.