New to Eurasia, Shaun Thong, impressed by finishing third in his first experience with the car and the demanding Macau street circuit. Unusually for Macau rain made the conditions extremely difficult but all five Eurasia drivers made it to the finish in 5th to 8th places, Tanart Sathrienthirakul leading home Matthew Solomon, Andy Chang and Pu Jun Jin.
Qualifying saw Thong in third place, the only Eurasia driver to stay out of trouble. Solomon, Chang and Pu Jun Jin had all featured in the top three early on only to miss the crucial last five minutes due to visiting the unforgiving Macau walls. Pu Jun Jin went off at Moorish hitting the tyre wall hard. A closely following Tanart just managed to miss him but next on the scene, Matthew Solomon, was completely unsighted and hit his team mate. Both were out on the spot. Like Solomon and Pu Jun Jin, local driver Andy Chang had looked good for a top three time but he lost the car under braking and clipped the wall ending his qualifying effort.
At the flag only Shaun Thong and Tanart were still running and with the track getting faster with every lap they proved the benefit of staying out of the walls. Tanart qualified 6th, struggling to learn the track after hitting the wall early in practice and missing most of the session. Matthew Solomon qualified 7th, Andy Chang 8th and Pu Jun Jin 10th.
Race day dawned wet and showers on and off during the day made the track treacherous. A heavy shower just before the start saw a scramble to fit wet tyres and lots of set up changes on the grid. In a strangely quite race, which started under the safety car, after the first racing lap there was little in the way of place changes. “Keeping it on the road in practice and qualifying was ultra important and Shaun clearly demonstrated this to be so” reported Eurasia’s Mark Goddard. “All of our drivers drove maturely in the race and I am sure its been an experience that will make them better drivers for the future.”
Testing now starts for the 2014 season, interested drivers should contact Mark Goddard at [email protected]
