The Formula 3 champions of Europe Mick Schumacher and All-Japan Formula 3 Championship title winner Sho Tsuboi , as well as last year’s winner head a top-quality entry list for the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup to take place in Macau on 17th and 18th November.
Red Bull Junior Ticktum, from German team Motopark, will visit Macau for the third time trying to to become the fourth man to win the race twice in the F3 era, to follow in the footsteps of Edoardo Mortara (2009/10), António Félix da Costa (2012/16) and Felix Rosenqvist (2014/15).
Joining him at Motopark is Estonian F3 rookie Jüri Vips. Vips has never been to Macao before, but is a street-circuit maestro and scored his first win in the category on the Norisring temporary circuit back in June. Driver Joel Eriksson will also visit Macau for the second time after his elimination in 2017 due to accident early in the ra
Much attention will be on SJM Theodore Racing by PREMA.
The Italian team has entered its regular five drivers from this season’s FIA F3 European Championship to steer its quintet of Mercedes-powered Dallaras around the Guia Circuit.
Top of them is Schumacher, who claimed fastest lap on his Macau debut last year after a gearbox problem wrecked his chances of victory.
He will bid to emulate his legendary father Michael and uncle Ralf, who won the Macau Grand Prix in 1990 and 1995 respectively.
The team also enters a trio of members of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Among them, New Zealand Marcus Armstrong led the European F3 standings for some time this season in his rookie campaign but, like Russian Robert Shvartzman – winner of the European F3 rookie title this year – he is a first-timer on the Guia Circuit.
The other driver under the Prancing Horse banner is Shanghai’s Guanyu Zhou, who took his maiden F3 win on the streets of Pau, France, this season and visits Macau for the third time.
Ralf Aron – the Estonian won the prestigious Pau Grand Prix street race in May, and scored a podium on his Macao debut in 2017 will race also this year at the Macau Grand Prix.
The famous Toyota-powered TOM’S team from Japan has to go back a decade to find its last Macau winner, but has a rich history on this circuit. It has had stunning success in Japan this season, with Tsuboi winning all but two races on his way to the title, and Ritomo Miyata claiming the races in which Tsuboi didn’t take victory.
The two Toyota proteges have both been to Macau before, with Tsuboi making his third visit.
British squad Carlin also has a successful Macau history, and has entered four of its Volkswagen-powered Dallaras.
After a race-winning season in the GP3 Series, the Ferrari Driver Academy’s Callum Ilott returns to F3 for Macau with Carlin, the team with which he made the first of his three appearances in the race to date in 2015.
Last year he won the Qualification Race, before colliding with Eriksson in the final as they fought for the lead.
Beside him are Jehan Daruvala, who has been a Force India F1 junior this season, and Renault Sport Academy youngster Sacha Fenestraz, who have both won European F3 races in 2018. Both return for a second attempt at Macau after taking top-10 finishes on their Macau debuts in 2017. The team also runs Yoshiaki Katayama, a regular points scorer in Japanese F3 this season.
Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing is always strong at Macau, although has yet to get a driver into the winner’s circle.
Two of the team’s Mercedes-powered Dallaras will be driven by German duo Sophia Flörsch and Keyvan Andres. Flörsch joined the European F3 season late but has shown flashes of form leading up to her Macau debut, while second-time visitor Andres took a Norisring podium. They will be joined by Dane Frederik Vesti, who stepped up from the German-based Formula 4 championship for the final European F3 round at Hockenheim, and for whom Macao will be just his second competitive outing in the category.
Hitech Grand Prix ran George Russell to a pole position on the team’s Macau debut in 2016 and, after skipping the race last year, the British team is back in 2018 with a trio of Mercedes-engined Dallaras.
Briton Enaam Ahmed briefly led the European F3 rankings is joined in the line-up by Macau youngster Leong Hon Chio.
The champion of last year’s Chinese Formula 4 and Asian Formula Renault championships, Leong has been a front-runner in the new F3 Asian Championship Certified by FIA this season with Hitech’s sister team.
Joining TOM’S from the All-Japan F3 Championship are three more teams.
B-Max Engineering is always loyal to Macau, but has yet to name its two drivers for its Volkswagen-engined cars.
ThreeBond Racing and Toda Racing, both of which produce their own powerplants, each bring Honda-backed Japanese talents for the youngsters’ first tastes of Macau.
Ukyo Sasahara claimed third position in his F3 season this year with ThreeBond, which saw its engine race onto the podium in 2014 with Nick Cassidy driving.
Toda runs Sena Sakaguchi and Toshiki Oyu, both of whom have scored good results this season, Oyu as an F3 rookie.
