2017 FIA GT World Cup

The 2017 FIA GT World Cup was the event's third iteration and the eleventh time GT3 vehicles had raced in Macau. It was held on the 22-turn Guia Circuit on 19 November 2017 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying. Following the 2016 iteration, in which an accident involving Laurens Vanthoor curtailed the race and time constraints meant that all scheduled laps could not be completed, the FIA moved the first race of the 2017 Guia Race of Macau from Sunday morning to Saturday afternoon to increase the likelihood that the race would run for all 18 scheduled laps. Manufacturer-supported teams with professional drivers rated platinum or gold were permitted to compete as part of organiser Stéphane Ratel Organisation's goal of having a World Cup event for professionals and one for amateurs. Safety and trackside recovery procedures were enhanced. Drivers had to have competed in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated GT3-based championship race in the preceding two seasons or have substantial experience in Grand Touring (GT) cars to enter the FIA GT World Cup in Macau. Only drivers with a platinum or gold racing licence could compete, with silver-ranked drivers eligible on a case-by-case basis at the FIA GT World Cup Committee's discretion. Bronze-level competitors were not permitted to compete. On 24 October 2017, the entry list was made public. Twenty drivers from 13 nations raced, representing seven brands (Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG, and Porsche). It featured defending winner Vanthoor, 2016–17 Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi, 2016 FIA World Endurance co-champion Romain Dumas, Blancpain GT Series champion Mirko Bortolotti, two-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion Marco Wittmann, and 2014 Bathurst 1000 co-winner Chaz Mostert. ==Practice and qualifying==

(pictured in 2014) took his second successive pole position in Macau and he went on to win the Qualifying Race and the Main Race. There was one 30-minute practice session each on Thursday morning and Friday morning preceding Sunday's race. In the first practice session, Maro Engel's 999 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing car lapped fastest at 2:18.948 on his final lap. Raffaele Marciello's sister No. 888 car was second, Edoardo Mortara's No. 48 Mercedes-AMG Team Driving Academy third, the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 of Felix Rosenqvist fourth and Robin Frijns' No. 1 Audi Sport Team WRT R8 LMS fifth. Daniel Juncadella, Markus Pommer, Augusto Farfus, Nico Müller and Darryl O'Young filled positions six through ten. With ten minutes remaining, Di Grassi lost control of his car and collided with a barrier alongside the circuit in the track's mountain section, but he continued with minor damage. Frijns led the second practice session with a 2:18.507 lap, ahead of Audi brandmate Pommer in second. Farfus, Juncadella, Müller, Engel, Marciello, di Grassi, Bortolotti and Vanthoor completed the top ten drivers. Fabian Plentz spun and caused the first stoppage, but he recovered and returned to the pit lane. When Hiroki Yoshimoto crashed his Porsche 911 at Solitude Esses turn and was in a dangerous position, a second red flag appeared. His teammate Juncadella joined him on the grid's front row and Team GruppeM Racing's Engel and Marciello were third and fourth. Müller was the quickest Audi driver in fifth. eight-thousands of a second behind Marciello. Pommer, eighth, was the highest-placed silver ranked driver. Vanthoor crashed into the inside barrier at Fisherman's Bend turn at the end of the session. Following qualifying, the FIA altered the balance of performance in an attempt to achieve parity. The weight of the Mercedes-AMGs was increased from to and the weight of the Honda NSX was increased from to . Qualifying classification ==Qualifying race==

(pictured in 2017) avoided a 16-car multi-car accident that stopped the Qualification Race for more than an hour. The qualifying race to determine the main race's grid order in overcast, dry weather began on November 18 at 12:25 p.m. Macau Standard Time (UTC+08:00). Juncadella's handling put him wide into an exit barrier as the field entered the right-hand Police Bend turn, considered one of the track's narrowest sections and a blind corner. Marciello narrowly avoided a collision with Juncadella, but Vanthoor was unsighted and understeered into Juncadella's stalled car's right-rear corner. Di Grassi's car was suspended on Wittmann's bonnet, close to Pommer. The accident involved four uninvolved drivers, and four more damaged cars were deemed repairable and returned to the track. With 25 minutes remaining, the race resumed behind the safety car at 13:20 local time. Mortara quickly established a small lead over Farfus, who pressured him but was unable to overtake him. As a result, Mortara won the qualification race after 11 laps and started the main race from pole position. Farfus came in second 1.566 seconds later, and Marciello rounded out the podium in third. Frijns in fourth unsuccessfully pressured Maricello, and the final classified finishers were Mostert, O'Young, Yoshimoto, and Engel. Qualifying race classification ==Main race==

The race began at 12:10 p.m. local time on November 19 on a wet track in overcast weather. Because of the damp track caused by an earlier rain shower, the race director decided to start behind the safety car, allowing drivers to adjust to the changing conditions. At the end of lap two, the safety car was withdrawn, allowing drivers to overtake. Mortara made a clean getaway from the rolling start but went slightly wide at Reservoir Bend corner and hit the outside wall leaving the corner. He was however untroubled as Farfus could not get close enough to challenge him. At Lisboa turn, Marciello rammed Farfus from behind, causing Farfus to lose third place to Marciello. Farfus slowed, hit an barrier and the car's boot cover lifted. O'Young crashed on cold tyres leaving the hill to the right-hand San Francisco Bend turn half a lap later. Müller hit him, sending O'Young spinning into a barrier. Engel finished third, Farfus fourth, and brandmates Mostert and Wittmann fifth and sixth. Dumas finished seventh, Juncadella eighth, and Yoshimoto was the final classified finisher. Di Grassi said G-force sensors and accelerometers can determine whether a car has crashed, "By GPS positioning you can say if the car is in front of you or behind you. If the car is in front of you, there is a light on the dash that glows yellow automatically, without anyone having to press a button with the same information. We don't have the same race director and marshals, especially in the base categories and amateur series. So we need a system that reacts fast. A system like that may have avoided a lot of crashes because first you don't need to look for the flag, if you’re following someone. It's much brighter if something is in front of you. And then it does not react as a human component." Main race classification ==See also==

Notes References ==External links==