Belgian driver Laurens Vanthoor has established himself as the Macau GP pacesetter during FP1 at the FIA GT World Cup, though his commanding performance was overshadowed when a significant accident brought the session to an early conclusion.
Driving the No. 992 Porsche 911 GT3 R for Absolute Racing, Vanthoor demonstrated clear superiority throughout the opening 35-minute session on the famous street circuit. The 16-car field witnessed the Belgian’s dominance as he became the sole competitor to dip beneath the 2:17 benchmark, setting the early standard for performance.
Crash at the Mandarin Bend
Disaster struck in the final stages when Vanthoor, hunting for additional improvements, suffered a rear-end loss of control whilst tackling the swift right-hand corner at Mandarin Bend. The resulting impact with the barriers was heavy and uncompromising, scattering debris liberally across the track surface. The incident necessitated an immediate red flag, with approximately three-and-a-half minutes remaining on the session clock.
Despite the dramatic nature of the accident, Vanthoor emerged from the vehicle without assistance, preventing what could have been a more serious incident.
His benchmark lap time of 2:16.451 ultimately proved decisive, establishing a commanding 0.755-second advantage over Yifei Ye, who piloted the No. 83 Harmony Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 into second place. The BMW contingent made a strong showing, with Raffaele Marciello’s ROWE Racing entry securing third position, a mere tenth of a second further back.
Adderly Fong had occupied the head of the timesheets midway through proceedings in his Uno Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, but ultimately finished fourth, remaining the final driver within a second of Vanthoor’s pace. Sheldon van der Linde provided Team WRT with representation inside the top five, ahead of Antonio Fuoco in the AF Corse Ferrari and Alessio Picariello’s Absolute Racing Porsche entry.
Christopher Haase’s No. 45 Audi Sport Asia machine completed the top eight, with the final two positions occupied by additional Porsche representatives. Laurin Heinrich steered his Schumacher CLRT entry to ninth, whilst FIA GT World Cup newcomer Dorian Boccolacci rounded out the top ten in the Phantom Global Porsche.
Macau GP FIA GT World Cup FP1 Results
- Laurens Vanthoor
- Yifei Ye
- Raffaele Marciello
- Adderly Fong
- Sheldon van der Linde
- Antonio Fuoco
- Alessio Picariello
- Christopher Haase
- Laurin Heinrich
- Dorian Boccolacci
- Yi Deng
- Joel Eriksson
- Edoardo Mortara
- Ayhancan Güven
- Luca Engstler
- Benjamin Goethe
