Race details Date 17–18 November 2012 Official name 59th SJM Macau Grand Prix Location Guia Circuit, Macau Course Temporary street circuit Distance Qualifying Race10 laps, Main Race15 laps, Weather Qualifying Race: Cloudy; , Main Race: Cloudy; , Qualifying Race Pole Driver Alex Lynn Fortec Motorsport Time 2:13.122 Fastest Lap Driver Daniel Juncadella Prema Powerteam Time 2:13.718 (on lap 4) Podium First António Félix da Costa Carlin Second Felix Rosenqvist Mücke Motorsport Third Alex Lynn Fortec Motorsport Main Race Pole Driver António Félix da Costa Carlin Fastest Lap Driver António Félix da Costa Carlin Time 2:13.507 (on lap 11) Podium First António Félix da Costa Carlin Second Felix Rosenqvist Mücke Motorsport Third Alex Lynn Fortec Motorsport The 2012 Macau Grand Prix Formula Three was a motor race for Formula Three cars that was held on the streets of Macau on 18 November 2012. Unlike other races, such as the Pau Grand Prix, the 2012 Macau Grand Prix was not a part of any Formula Three championship, but was open to entries from all Formula Three championships. The race itself was made up of two races: a ten-lap qualifying race that decided the starting grid for the fifteen-lap main race. The 2012 race was the 59th running of the Macau Grand Prix, the 30th race for Formula Three cars, and was supported by the World Touring Car Championship Guia Race of Macau.
The Grand Prix was won by Portuguese driver António Félix da Costa from pole position, having won the event's qualification race the previous afternoon. Félix da Costa led every lap of the meeting, to take Carlin's first victory in Macau since Takuma Sato won the 2001 edition of the race. Second place went to Felix Rosenqvist, competing for Mücke Motorsport, while the podium was completed by the highest-placed rookie driver, Alex Lynn for Fortec Motorsport.
Entry list and background In order to compete at the Macau Grand Prix, drivers had to compete in any Formula Three championship race during the calendar year, rather than an FIA-regulated championship meeting like previous years. This rule was relaxed due to new sporting regulations introduced by the race's organising committee, with only Dallara's new F312 chassis being eligible to race in the event. Within the 30-car grid of the event, each of the major Formula Three series were represented by their respective champion. Defending race winner Daniel Juncadella, the Euro Series and FIA European Formula 3 champion, was joined in Macau by British champion Jack Harvey, German series winner Jimmy Eriksson and Japanese champion Ryō Hirakawa.
Five drivers who mainly competed in other series outside of Formula Three in 2012 also became eligible for the Macau race meeting: GP2 Series racer Felipe Nasr and European Le Mans Series driver Alexander Sims competed in the Euro Series – at Hockenheim, and the Nürburgring respectively – to become eligible, while GP3 Series runner-up Daniel Abt competed in the German Formula Three meeting at Spa-Francorchamps to prepare for Macau. Multiple GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5 race-winner António Félix da Costa and Formula Three debutant Kevin Korjus – another Formula Renault 3.5 competitor – had to wait until their main series campaigns had concluded before sealing their eligibility; they both competed in the MotorSport Vision Formula Three Cup, a second-tier Formula Three series in the United Kingdom, in its season-ending round at Snetterton.
The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three 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 2012 Macau Grand Prix was the 59th running of the event and the 30th time the race was held to Formula Three regulations. It took place on the twenty-two turn Guia Circuit on 18 November 2012 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.
Practice and qualifying Nasr set the fastest time for Carlin in the 45-minute first free practice session that was held – in cloudy conditions – prior to the first qualifying session, setting a lap time over two-tenths of a second quicker than anyone else at the Guia Circuit. His closest challenger was Mücke Motorsport's Felix Rosenqvist ahead of three of Nasr's Carlin teammates: Félix da Costa, Carlos Sainz Jr. and William Buller. Defending champion Juncadella was sixth for Prema Powerteam, ahead of the best-placed Macau debutant Pascal Wehrlein. Japanese series champion Hirakawa (RSS) caused the only red flag of the session by crashing heavily at R Bend, while five other drivers – all rookies with the exception of T-Sport driver Sims – also encountered incidents during the session.
Qualifying was divided into two sessions, both of which were 30 minutes. One session was held on 15 November and another was held on 16 November, with the best times of each driver counting towards the starting order for the qualifying race. The first qualifying session saw Félix da Costa come out on top, by just 0.02 seconds ahead of Rosenqvist, with Sainz another thousandth of a second in arrears in third place. Alex Lynn, in his last appearance for Fortec Motorsport before moving to the Prema Powerteam in 2013, was best rookie in fourth place having held the lead of the session at one point, while Juncadella rounded out the top five. Nasr finished the session in sixth place ahead of Sims and Prema Powerteam's Raffaele Marciello – the winner of the other invitational Formula Three race held on a street circuit, at Pau in France – with Félix Serrallés and Wehrlein rounding out the top ten. Following them were Abt, Tom Blomqvist with Pipo Derani and Hannes van Asseldonk provisionally lining up on row seven. Buller, a former Formula BMW Pacific winner at Macau, was next up ahead of Harry Tincknell, Jazeman Jaafar, Harvey, Sven Müller and Korjus. Andrea Roda caused the session's only red flag by crashing at the Reservoir Bend corner. Hirakawa did not complete a lap during qualifying, as his car was still being repaired after his earlier incident during the first free practice session. For weighing incidents during free practice, Hirakawa and Andrea Roda were each given three-place grid penalties.
In the second 45-minute practice session, Rosenqvist set a benchmark in the opening third of the session and the time ultimately held to the conclusion of it, with Juncadella and Félix da Costa marginally behind in second and third places respectively. Korjus continued his progression up the time-sheets with the fourth-fastest time, while Sainz completed the top five in the session ahead of Wehrlein, the best of the rookies. The session had to be stopped once due to a problem with one of the circuit's catch-fences, although Nasr brushed the wall en route to the tenth fastest time, while Yuichi Nakayama and Luís Sá Silva both crashed within the final five minutes of the session, leaving their TOM'S and Angola Racing teams with repair work to be carried out before the second qualifying session.
The second qualifying session was delayed by 15 minutes due to an incident during qualifying for the CTM Macau Touring Car Cup race, in which 2011 Road Sport Challenge race winner Phillip Yau was killed. When the session did start, the anticipated rain showers had not materialised, and Nasr moved to the top of the time-sheets before the first of three red flags for a crash by Serrallés. For a time, track conditions were slippery due to fluids that had to be cleaned up from Serrallés' accident. Juncadella recorded the fastest time midway through the session, with a time just one thousandth slower than Félix da Costa's Thursday best. Félix da Costa's time was eventually beaten by Lynn, taking almost three-tenths of a second off the previous best time just prior to a second red flag after Lucas Auer crashed. The session was eventually abandoned after a third red flag with around two minutes remaining when Nasr crashed at R Bend. Thus, Lynn became the first rookie since Kamui Kobayashi in 2006 to take pole position at Macau, doing so by 0.278 seconds ahead of Félix da Costa, who achieved a front-row grid start for the second successive year. Juncadella moved into third place – keeping his position despite failing a fuel sample test – ahead of Rosenqvist and Sainz, with Nasr remaining sixth ahead of Tincknell, Wehrlein and Abt, who all moved up from their Thursday provisional grid slots. The top ten was completed by Marciello; behind him, the top twenty qualifiers were rounded off by van Asseldonk, Derani, Harvey, Sims, Serrallés, Blomqvist, Buller, Yuichi Yamauchi, Jaafar, Müller Hirakawa and Roda's grid penalties were effectively rendered meaningless as they qualified at the rear of the grid. Korjus, Nakayama and Roda each received penalties after second qualifying; Roda was demoted ten for an engine change, while Korjus and Nakayama each dropped one spot for irregularities in the pit lane.
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 14 Fortec Motorsport 2:13.718 42:13.122 1 1 2 7 Carlin2:13.400 1 2:13.663 6 + 0.278 2 3 1 Prema Powerteam 2:13.800 52:13.401 2 + 0.279 3 4 22 Mücke Motorsport2:13.420 2 2:13.656 5 + 0.298 4 5 8 Carlin2:13.421 3 2:13.666 7 + 0.299 5 6 5 Carlin 2:14.076 62:13.556 3 + 0.434 6 7 15 Fortec Motorsport 2:14.975 162:13.577 4 + 0.455 7 8 23 Mücke Motorsport 2:14.397 102:13.721 8 + 0.599 8 9 6 Carlin 2:14.433 112:13.758 9 + 0.636 9 10 2 Prema Powerteam 2:14.266 82:13.789 10 + 0.667 10 11 4 Prema Powerteam 2:14.837 142:13.885 11 + 0.763 11 12 16 Fortec Motorsport 2:14.819 132:14.068 12 + 0.946 12 13 10 Carlin 2:15.562 182:14.082 13 + 0.960 13 14 28 ThreeBond with T-Sport2:14.085 7 2:14.848 17 + 0.963 14 15 12 Fortec Motorsport2:14.366 9 2:18.694 30 + 1.244 30 16 31 EuroInternational 2:14.798 122:14.648 14 + 1.526 15 17 9 Carlin 2:14.855 152:14.744 15 + 1.622 16 18 21 B-Max Engineering 2:16.461 222:14.790 16 + 1.668 17 19 17 TOM'S 2:15.200 172:15.055 18 + 1.933 18 20 3 Prema Powerteam 2:15.625 192:15.391 19 + 2.269 19 21 19 Double R Racing2:15.768 20 2:16.720 26 + 2.646 21 22 24 Mücke Motorsport 2:16.714 232:15.804 20 + 2.682 20 23 18 TOM'S 2:17.705 262:15.870 21 + 2.748 23 24 20 Double R Racing 2:16.062 212:16.015 22 + 2.893 22 25 29 Van Amersfoort Racing 2:16.845 242:16.187 23 + 3.065 24 26 30 Van Amersfoort Racing 2:19.335 292:16.559 24 + 3.437 25 27 27 Angola Racing Team 2:18.004 272:16.624 25 + 3.502 26 28 32 URD Rennsport 2:17.672 252:16.766 27 + 3.644 27 29 11 KCMG by RSS no time2:17.151 28 + 4.029 28 30 25 Andrea RodaJo Zeller Racing2:18.140 28 2:18.152 29 + 5.018 29
Notes – Serrallés started from the back of the grid, after an engine change. – Korjus was given a one-place grid penalty for infringing pit safety regulations. – Nakayama was also given a one-place grid penalty for infringing pit safety regulations. – Hirakawa was given a three-place grid penalty, for weighing irregularities during the first free practice session. – Roda was given a three-place grid penalty, for weighing irregularities during the first free practice session. He was later given a further grid drop of ten places, for an engine change.
Qualification Race