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ISSUE 1 | 2018 Celebrating the Grand Prix Spirit Home & Away Preparations for this year’s Macau Grand Prix have already thundered off the starting grid and are well on the way to ensuring a successful year, with a title sponsor and race naming sponsors confirmed for all races on the programme. Promotion of this year’s event, meanwhile, is in full swing. MR. PUN WENG KUN, PRESIDENT OF SPORTS BUREAU OF THE MACAO SAR AND MS. GINA LEI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND DIRECTOR OF SUNCITY GROUP MARKED THE SIGNING OF THE SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT WITH THE PRESENTATION OF A GIANT CHEQUE he Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee (MGPOC) has packed programme are the FOOD4U Macau Touring Car Cup and the announced Suncity Group’s return as title sponsor of the 65th all-new Greater Bay Area Cup. T Macau Grand Prix, marking their fifth consecutive year as the main naming partner. The latest partnership between the Grand Prix Both at home and abroad, a wide range of promotional activities to and Suncity Group was marked with a ceremonial cheque presentation spread the word ahead of the November 15-18 Grand Prix are well at a press conference. underway. In April, the MGPOC set up a promotional booth at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai which gave visitors an Long-time supporter SJM continues its partnership with the event as opportunity to learn all about the Macau Grand Prix, with some naming sponsor of the Macau GT Cup. The 2018 SJM Macau GT Cup enthusiastic fans experiencing the Guia Circuit in a racing simulator. marks the fourth consecutive year the race has been designated the official FIA GT World Cup. New Grand Prix partner, online food delivery FANS FLOCKED TO THE MACAU GRAND PRIX PROMOTIONAL BOOTH AT platform FOOD4U, becomes title sponsor of the long-running Macau THE FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX IN SHANGHAI Touring Car Cup for the first time. Safety, medical, rescue and official vehicles will be provided by BMW Concessionaires (Macau) Ltd for the second year. On the enticing race programme for its 65th anniversary, the Macau Grand Prix will feature no fewer than four prestigious headline races: The Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix – FIA F3 World Cup; the SJM Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup; the Suncity Group Macau Guia Race – WTCR FIA World Touring Car Cup; and the Suncity Group Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 52nd edition. Rounding out the thrilling, action- Macau Grand Prix Gazette ISSUE 1 | 2018 1 Through these motivational sharing sessions, students gained a better understanding of the Grand Prix as a major sporting event for Macao, including its history, the vast array of skills required, and the extensive preparatory work which is undertaken each year. The multi-faceted promotional campaign will continue to build all the way up to November’s big event, along with a series of special events to celebrate the 65th anniversary. A Macau Grand Prix Family Carnival will take place on November 3-4, while the now-traditional Opening Ceremony and Car and Motorcycle Show is set for November 10- 11, giving visitors and residents THE MGPOC HAS HELD SEVERAL “GETTING TO KNOW THE MACAU an opportunity to check-out the GRAND PRIX” SHARING SESSIONS IN DIFFERENT SCHOOLS THIS YEAR superbikes and sportscars that will take to the Guia Circuit. A special The MGPOC has organized 65th Macau Grand Prix Celebration promotional booths at community Guia Circuit Fun Run gives residents events in various locations in the chance to run the famous street Macao, including at the Macau circuit on November 11. Women Sport Festival at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion in March, A lively social media campaign the May 1 Recreational Activities at is currently underway, the virtual Hac Sa, and at a Family Sports Day element complementing the on- in June where local participants the-ground activities. A campaign enrolled in the Macau GP Club. to collect photographs and short videos is set to begin in September. The original idea for the Grand Prix was conceived by a group The Macau Grand Prix’s storied of Macao friends and, since 1954, history plays an important role in local residents have been the its promotion. This year’s video and driving force behind what has television commercials pay tribute become a jewel in the international to Grands Prix of the past, taking motorsport crown. To encourage the viewer through the decades to involvement in the Grand Prix by as present day. Watch out for the commercial playing on a screen near you diverse a cross section of the community as possible, the Macau Grand or, if you can’t wait, check it out now on the official Macau Grand Prix Prix Committee held a number of “Meet to share the Macau Grand Prix” Facebook page. sessions this year. Speakers interacted with students at the Macao Polytechnic Institute, the Institute for Tourism Studies, the Workers’ Make sure to stay tuned for more promotions and fun as the Suncity Children High School, and Macau Saint Jose Diocese Secondary School, Group 65th Macau Grand Prix gears up for an epic, high-octane all sharing their experiences of organizing the Grand Prix. celebration this November! THE POPULAR MACAU GRAND PRIX OPENING CEREMONY AND CAR AND MOTORCYCLE SHOW WILL RETURN ON NOVEMBER 10 AND 11 THIS YEAR 2 Macau Grand Prix Gazette ISSUE 1 | 2018 Macao Sets Ticktum on the Fast Track ictory in the 2017 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix was only the start of an V incredible winter for Dan Ticktum in his transition from being the enfant terrible of European motorsport to one of the most feted international stars of the future. Two weeks after Macao glory, Ticktum was named the winner of the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award and then, as a Red Bull Junior, he was placed with Motopark – the team with which he’d won Macao – for a full season in the 2018 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. The Macao victory came off the back of what Ticktum describes as “an average” rookie season in the Formula Renault Eurocup, his first full campaign since serving a 12-month ban from racing because of an incident in his British Formula 4 days. Not only that, but Macau was his first F3 race of 2017, and only the third of his career. “I’d had just two test days in an F3 car all year,” he says, “so the odds were definitely not stacked in my favour. But in Ticktum was a contender for most of Macao placed Ferdinand Habsburg. “Mentally it’s an Macao, it’s not like you’re driving an F3 car at week in 2017, before rising to third place in the interesting one,” he says of the Macau Grand a normal track – the skillsets are different to closing stages of the race and then benefiting Prix experience. “You want to be on the limit most European circuits. And it helped having from the last-corner simultaneous crashing in a racing car, but at Macao it’s a case of how done Macao in 2016.” of leader Sérgio Sette Câmara and second- close to that limit you’re willing to get. And I Macau Grand Prix Gazette ISSUE 1 | 2018 3 don’t believe there’s a massive difference in Japan with Team Mugen. “That was a great And if he returns to Macao to bid for a second the cars. That’s why top drivers like it so much experience,” says Ticktum. “Experiencing Japan successive win? “I’m confident I’d be the – it separates the good from the not so good. and a quicker car was great, and managing the quickest. It’s just all those other things that tyres for a full hour-and-a-half race distance.” can happen that you can’t control!” “Qualifying was particularly unlucky – I had purple [fastest] times in the first two sectors on tyres that had already done a few laps, and then there was a red flag. I was sixth, and annoyed that I’d failed to fulfil my potential. I reset for the Qualification Race, but the team got the tyre pressures wrong so I was eighth on the grid for the final. So the pressure was pretty much off, and that relaxed me.” The win surprised Ticktum: “I was so shocked and I didn’t know as I crossed the line, but then the whole team were cheering on the radio and going mad! Daniel Gratacos, my engineer, was over the moon.” Then came the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, which was the icing on the cake. “Everything I was in for in the latter part of the season I won,” enthuses Ticktum, whose prize of a McLaren Formula 1 test was complicated by the fact that he is a Red Bull Junior. “It was definitely good to have that momentum going into the year,” he says, “and Derek Warwick [who chairs the Award judges] has managed to sort out the F1 test, so big thanks to him. He’s such a big supporter of me and I really appreciate that.” As of Round 5 this year, Ticktum has won three races of the FIA F3 European Championship and sits second in the standings, just a point off the lead. “I worked out the other night that if our start procedure was better as a team I’d be about 80 points in the lead!” he laughs. “I’ve been very unlucky in certain areas, because a lot of the things that have gone wrong have been outside my control.

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