Race details Date 18 November 2007 Official name 54th Polytec Macau Grand Prix Location Guia Circuit, Macau Course Temporary street circuit Distance Qualifying Race10 laps, Main Race15 laps, Weather Qualifying Race: Sunny and dryMain Race: Sunny and dry Qualifying Race Pole Driver Oliver Jarvis TOM'S Time 2:11.696 Fastest Lap Driver Oliver Jarvis TOM'S Time 2:13.831 (on lap 7 of 7) Podium First Oliver Jarvis TOM'S Second Marko Asmer Hitech Racing Third Kazuya Oshima TOM'S Main Race Pole Driver Oliver Jarvis TOM'S Fastest Lap Driver Marko Asmer Hitech Racing Time 2:11.744 (on lap 6 of 15) Podium First Oliver Jarvis TOM'S Second Koudai Tsukakoshi Manor Motorsport Third Kazuya Oshima TOM'S The 2007 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 54th Polytec Macau Grand Prix) was a Formula Three (F3) motor race held on the streets of Macau on 18 November 2007. Unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, the 2007 Macau Grand Prix was not part of any F3 championship, but was open to entries from all F3 championships. The race itself consisted of two races: a ten-lap qualifying race that determined the starting grid for the fifteen-lap main race. The 2007 race was the 54th Macau Grand Prix and the 25th for F3 cars.
TOM'S driver Oliver Jarvis won the Grand Prix after winning the event's Qualification Race the afternoon before. Jarvis started from pole position and led for most of the race, including every lap of the main race, to take his first and only victory in Macau. Koudai Tsukakoshi of Manor Motorsport was second, with another Japanese driver and Jarvis' TOM'S teammate Kazuya Oshima took third.
Background and entry list
The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three (F3) race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and has been termed the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The Macau Grand Prix was held for the 54th time in 2007, and the 25th time under F3 rules. It took place on the 22-turn Guia Circuit on 18 November 2007 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.
Drivers had to compete in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated championship meeting in 2007, either in the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy or one of the domestic championships, with the highest-placed drivers receiving priority in being invited to Macau. Each of the major F3 series was represented by its champion on the event's 30-car grid. Romain Grosjean, the Formula Three Euro Series champion, was joined in Macau by British champion Marko Asmer, German series winner Carlo van Dam and Japanese champion Kazuya Oshima. Six non-F3 drivers accepted invitations from the Macau Grand Prix Committee to compete in the Macau Grand Prix. They were GP2 Series driver Bruno Senna, Brendon Hartley of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and Macau natives Lei Kit Meng, Michael Ho, Rodolfo Ávila and Jo Merszei.
Practice and qualifying
The Sunday race was preceded by two half-hour practice sessions: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. Despite heavy damage to his car's left side from avoiding Stephen Jelley's stricken vehicle at Policeman's Bend, Grosjean set the fastest time for ASM in the first practice session with a late lap of 2 minutes, 14.223 seconds, nearly one-tenth of a second faster than anyone else. Sébastien Buemi was second in front of third-placed Asmer. Prema Powerteam's Roberto Streit, Koudai Tsukakoshi, Edoardo Mortara, Oliver Jarvis, Jelley, Senna and Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the session's top ten drivers. The session was stopped halfway through when Franck Mailleux spun into a barriera lining the track at the R Bend and his car was stranded on the track. Other incidents included Lei spinning at Lisboa corner but avoided damage to his car. Sam Bird later swiped the turn's wall and Walter Grubmüller limped to the pit lane with his front-right suspension bent.
Qualifying was split into two 45-minute sessions, one on Thursday afternoon and one on Friday afternoon. Each driver's fastest time from either session counted toward their final starting place in the qualification race. The first qualifying session saw Asmer lap fastest at 2 minutes, 13.122 seconds set nine minutes remaining. The heavy damage to Grosjean's car forced him to sit out the session's opening minutes and gradually improved to be two-tenths behind and take provisional second. Despite clipping the wall, Yelmer Buurman ran strongly throughout and finished third. Buemi battled for pole position for most of the session before falling to fourth. Esteban Guerrieri improved late on to go fifth, ahead of Tsukakoshi in sixth and 2006 pole sitter Kamui Kobayashi in seventh. James Jakes, Streit and Jelley rounded out the top ten. Jarvis was the fastest driver who did not finish in the top ten, despite being as high as fourth at one point. Following him were the highest-placed rookie Mortara, Oshima, with Hülkenberg joining the Japanese driver on the seventh row despite a collision with a tyre barrier at Lisboa corner. The rest of the order was completed by Niall Breen, Atte Mustonen, Jonathan Kennard, Van Dam, Renger van der Zande, Senna, Bird, Mailleux, Hartley, Grubmüller, Takuya Izawa, Ávila, Ho, Lei and Cheong Lou Meng. Merszei was the only driver to not lap within 110% of Asmer. Other incidents included Mustonen damaging his suspension against the tyre wall and Bird hitting the Fisherman's Bend barrier. Senna collided with a tyre barrier at San Francisco Bend and Izawa hit him, stopping the session. Numerous penalties were imposed after qualifying. Kobayashi and Mutstonen were penalised three grid positions for entering the pit lane's fast lane before it was declared open. Hülkenberg and Cheong were similarly penalised for ignoring the red light signal at the pit lane exit which required them to enter the weighbridge.
Asmer spent much of the second 30-minute practice session evaluating a new car setup, which improved straightline speed and resulted in the fastest lap of 2 minutes, 12.894 seconds. Tsukakoshi was second-fastest, 0.038 seconds behind Asmer. Jarvis ran consistently near the top of the time sheets and was third. Mortara, Oshima, Grosjean, Buemi, Streit, Jelley and Van Dam occupied positions four to ten. Although the session was not stopped, several drivers came unstuck. Mailleux spun at Lisboa corner and broke his rear wing. Mustonen continued after a spin at the R Bend but crashed at Lisboa after colliding with another car. Jakes' session ended prematurely in a barrier at Moorish Hill with 11 minutes remaining.
The second qualifying session began fifteen minutes later than scheduled due to freight for the Guia Race of Macau being stranded in Beijing, and by crashes in the local touring car support races. When the session finally began, Jarvis set the early pace before being surpassed by Tsukakoshi one minute before the end of second qualifying. Jarvis immediately surpassed this with a lap time of 2 minutes, 11.696 seconds, securing pole position for the qualifying race. Amser set his best time on his final lap to join Jarvis on the grid's front row. Tsukakoshi was third, 0.216 seconds behind. Buemi remained fourth, while Mortara moved up to fifth. Grosjean dropped to sixth, while teammate Kobayashi dropped to seventh. The top ten was completed by Oshima, Streit and Buurman. Behind them the rest of the field consisted of Jakes, Guerrieri, Jelley, Van Dam, Hülkenberg, Bird, Breen, Senna, Kennard, Mustonen, Hartley, Mailleux, Van Der Zande, Izawa, Ho, Ávila, Grubmüller, Cheong, Lei and Merszei. The session was halted three times: Van Der Zande crashed into the barrier exiting Paiol corner, littering debris on the track. Hartley's car was stranded in a dangerous position after colliding with the wall at the exit of the Lisboa turn. The final stoppage was for Grubmüller who hit the barrier on his out-lap. Buemi and Buurman both received penalties after second qualifying: Buemi was summoned to the stewards office for a review of his fastest lap, and they determined that it was recorded under yellow flag conditions. They demoted Buemi demoted five places on the grid. Buurman was penalised three positions for being deemed to have moved onto the pit lane's fast lane before it was declared open.
Qualifying classification Each of the driver's fastest lap times from the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold. +Final qualifying classification Driver Team 1 5 Oliver JarvisTOM'S 2:14.149 112:11.696 1 1 2 11 Marko AsmerHitech Racing 2:13.122 12:11.888 2 + 0.192 2 3 21 Koudai TsukakoshiManor Motorsport 2:13.888 62:11.912 3 + 0.216 3 4 2 Sébastien BuemiRäikkönen-Robertson Racing 2:13.436 42:12.061 4 + 0.365 9 5 24 Edoardo MortaraSignature 2:14.265 122:12.238 5 + 0.542 4 6 7 Romain GrosjeanASM F3 2:13.329 22:12.248 6 + 0.552 5 7 9 Kamui KobayashiASM F3 2:13.925 72:12.332 7 + 0.636 10 8 6 Kazuya OshimaTOM'S 2:14.353 132:12.477 8 + 0.781 6 9 22 Roberto StreitPrema Powerteam 2:14.128 92:12.560 9 + 0.864 7 10 20 Yelmer BuurmanManor Motorsport 2:13.405 32:12.895 10 + 1.199 13 11 18 James JakesManor Motorsport 2:14.106 82:13.168 11 + 1.472 8 12 25 Esteban GuerrieriSignature 2:13.733 52:13.229 12 + 1.533 11 13 1 Stephen JelleyRäikkönen-Robertson Racing 2:14.142 102:13.324 13 + 1.628 12 14 18 Carlo van DamHBR Motorsport 2:15.325 182:13.351 14 + 1.655 14 15 8 Nico HülkenbergASM F3 2:14.570 142:13.735 15 + 2.039 15 16 15 Sam BirdCarlin 2:16.231 212:13.736 16 + 2.040 16 17 16 Niall BreenCarlin 2:14.688 152:13.852 17 + 2.156 17 18 3 Bruno SennaRäikkönen-Robertson Racing 2:16.120 202:13.856 18 + 2.160 18 19 4 Jonathan KennardRäikkönen-Robertson Racing 2:14.843 172:14.432 19 + 2.736 19 20 26 Atte MustonenSignature2:14.750 16 2:14.902 20 + 3.054 23 21 14 Brendon HartleyCarlin 2:16.442 232:15.031 21 + 3.335 20 22 23 Renger van der ZandePrema Powerteam2:15.551 19 2:15.910 22 + 3.855 21 23 19 Franck MailleuxManor Motorsport 2:16.292 222:15.750 23 + 4.054 22 24 31 Takuya IzawaFortec Motorsport 2:18.574 252:16.213 24 + 4.517 24 25 12 Michael HoHitech Racing 2:19.947 272:17.273 25 + 5.577 25 26 28 Rodolfo ÁvilaHBR Motorsport 2:19.758 262:17.392 26 + 5.696 26 27 10 Walter GrubmüllerHitech Racing2:18.456 24 2:18.511 27 + 6.760 27 28 29 Cheong Lou MengSwiss Racing Team 2:26.254 292:22.154 28 + 10.458 28 29 17 Lei Kit MengCarlin 2:24.360 282:22.154 29 + 12.621 29 30 30 Jo MerszeiSwiss Racing Team 2:27.440 N/C2:24.527 30 + 12.831 30 Notes: – Sébastien Buemi was penalised five places on the grid because of him ignoring yellow flags. – Kamui Kobayashi, Atte Mustonen and Yelmer Buurman were penalised by overspeeding in the pit lane and demoted three places on the grid.
Qualifying race
The qualifying race to set the grid order for the main race started on 17 November at 13:20 Macau Standard Time (UTC+08:00). The weather at the start of the qualifying race was dry and sunny with the air temperature and the track temperature . Kobayashi was unable to begin because he stalled in his grid slot. On the grid, pole position starter Jarvis made a quick getaway, but Asmer, despite initial concerns that he would lose clutch control, accelerated faster and took the lead driving into Mandarin Bend. Further back, separate crashes involving multiple cars prompted the safety car's deployment. Mortara had a slow getaway and collided with Buemi at Lisboa corner and Tsukakoshi was caught up in the melee. Tsukakoshi survived the impact and rejoined the race but Grosjean suffered a puncture, causing Senna to swerve in avoidance. Grosjean drove slowly to pit lane for a replacement wheel but fell a lap behind Asmer. The crash moved Bird up to fifth place, and Oshima to sixth, but Guerrieri's race was ended early when he also crashed. Cheong and Lei each went into the pit lane for debris removal and a replacement front wing.