Macau Grand Prix Organising Committee Coordinator Pun Weng Kun said on Thursday that the Guia Circuit will be upgraded and additional safety measures will be installed for this year’s motor-racing event taking place from November 14-17.
Pun, who is also president of the Sports Bureau, made the comments while speaking to reporters after a press conference at Macau Tower, during which the committee announced that gaming operator SJM will be this year’s Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup race title sponsor, and online food delivery platform FOOD4U will be the Macau Touring Car Cup title sponsor.
According to Pun, the Suncity Group 66th Macau Grand Prix will host three major international races – the FIA F3 World Cup, FIA GT World Cup, and FIA World Touring Car Cup which consists of three races. The four-day event is budgeted at 270 million patacas, half a million more than the in the previous four to five years because of the upgrades necessary for this year’s race.
The organising committee’s sporting subcommittee coordinator Chong Coc Veng told the press conference that as this year’s F3 Macau Grand Prix will use cars with specifications different from previous years, the homologation of the Guia Circuit had to be upgraded to cater for more powerful racing cars.
According to the committee’s statement, in order for the 6.2-kilometre Guia Circuit to be upgraded to an FIA Grade II homologated track from FIA Grade III, the committee will follow FIA’s recommendations by making relevant upgrades at the Reservoir, Mandarin Oriental Bend and Lisboa Bend, apart from additional impact protection foam and new safety crash barriers at various points around the circuit.
In addition, electronic flags will be used this year to supplement manual flag signals, which is also part of the circuit improvement efforts.
According to the Macau Post Daily, asked by the media if he could reveal more specific details of what a Grade II track is all about, Pun said that more details would be announced in due course.
