Rosenqvist wins Macau GP from pole

Felix Rosenqvist wins by 1.1-sec

Felix Rosenqvist took victory in the 62nd Macau Grand Prix for SJM Theodore Racing by Prema, his second win in the race and Theodore Racing's eighth.

The Swedish driver emerged from an early battle for the lead with Charles Leclerc, in which they continually swapped positions in the opening laps, and made his winning bid on a restart after the race was suspended due to a large accident. Rosenqvist beat Leclerc by 1.1 sec. at the flag.

Leclerc pulled off a superb maneuver, passing Rosenqvist under braking on the outside line to take the lead at the start.

Going into lap two, Rosenqvist got into Leclerc's slipstream out of R Bend and dived inside at the Reservoir kink, only for Leclerc to then pick up the tow and repeat his first-lap move.

Then, as happens every year, the race was red-flagged. This time the accident was at Fishermans Bend – littered with debris from the ruined cars of Gustavo Menezes, Ryan Tveter and Mitsunori Takaboshi.

A big crowd was on hand

After the restart, Rosenqvist drafted past Leclerc out of the Mandarin kink, while Sam MacLeod also passed Leclerc under braking into Lisboa.

The Team West-Tec car kept Leclerc at bay until the seventh lap while Rosenqvist extended his advantage to over two seconds, before Leclerc passed the Scot around the outside into Lisboa.

The gap remained around two seconds for several laps before Leclerc gained, finishing just 1.168 seconds behind.

Alexander Sims was third in his Double R Racing car.

Felix Rosenqvist

Theodore Racing Team Principal Mr. Teddy Yip Jr. said, "It is a dream come true for me and my family to be Macau Champions for a record eighth time with Theodore Racing. We took victory on our return to Macau in 2013 with Alex Lynn and to repeat this achievement just two years later with Felix Rosenqvist is a seriously amazing achievement.

"Rene Rosin runs a fabulous team and Felix is just in a class of his own here in Macau. We mustn't forget how well both Jake and Lance drove on their debuts to ensure we have all three cars in the top ten.

"I would like to thank SJM for their continued support of our Theodore Racing program and I'm very pleased to deliver success to our new partners ICBC, Gulf and CCM Hong Kong.

"The champagne certainly tastes sweet and now the party begins."

SJM directors Dr. Ambrose So, Ms. Angela Leong and Dr. Rui Cunha visited the Guia Street Circuit today to show their support, cheering the team onto victory. SJM continues to be the title sponsor and official partner of SJM Theodore Racing this year, marking its third consecutive year of support for the team, with ICBC (Macau) being the promotion partner.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of SJM Dr. Ambrose So said, "SJM is proud and honored to join hands with Theodore Racing to make history in the Macau Grand Prix. This remarkable success illustrates Theodore's prominent role in this internationally acclaimed sports event, and celebrates the long and established friendship we have with its founder Mr. Teddy Yip, and now with his son Teddy Jr."

Winning Driver quote

Felix Rosenqvist: "Winning Macau gets better every time! Even with all the preparation you still have to do the job on the track. You also need luck. I was really strong on the first couple of laps so even if Charles passed me I was confident I could repass him. We went aggressive on set-up so my tires were worse at the end and he caught up. One mistake and he would have been right there – it was a tough race!"

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