2018 FIA GT World Cup

The 2018 FIA GT World Cup was confirmed at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting on March 9. The event was held in the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macau thanks to a contract extension with race organisers. It was the race's fourth staging and the eleventh GT3 event in Macau, taking place on the Guia Circuit in the streets of Macau on November 18, 2018, after three days of practice and qualifying. The Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) collaborated with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to promote the race; the SRO was appointed by the promoter Associação Geral Automóvel de Macau-China to form a field of cars. The manufacturers' championship was presented to the maker of the winning participant's car, in accordance with the event regulations. The FIA nominated tyre manufacturer Pirelli as the race's control tyre supplier for the fourth successive year. Drivers had to have competed in an FIA-regulated championship race based on GT3 regulations in the previous two seasons or have significant experience in Grand Touring (GT) cars to enter the race. Only those with a platinum or gold racing licences could automatically enter. Silver-ranked drivers were also permitted, but they had to be approved individually by the FIA GT World Cup Committee. Bronze-rated competitors were not permitted to compete. Entries were open from 6 July to 31 August. The FIA released the entry list on 18 October. The entry list included 15 drivers from 11 different countries, and they came from series such as the ADAC GT Masters and the Blancpain GT Series. Maro Engel, Laurens Vanthoor and Edoardo Mortara, as well as 2007 Macau Grand Prix winner Oliver Jarvis, were all former FIA GT World Cup winners. ==Practice==

There were two half-an-hour practice sessions preceding the 18 November race. ahead of Mortara, Christopher Haase, Augusto Farfus and Earl Bamber. Four manufacturers were represented in the first five. The session was stopped for separate accidents at the Melco hairpin. Four manufacturers occupied the first five positions in the second practice session on the morning of November 16th, with Bamber setting the fastest lap in the No. 912 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R at 2:17.436 with three minutes remaining after adjustments and tyre changes. Second through fifth were Engel, Frijns, Laurens Vanthoor, and Farfus. When Haase lost control of his vehicle and collided with the barrier at the R Bend turn, the session ended prematurely. == Qualifying ==

set the fastest lap in qualifying to start from pole position. Friday afternoon's half-hour qualifying session determined the qualification race's starting order through each driver's fastest lap times. Raffaele Marciello's No. 999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 took pole position in his second race in Macau, as the only driver to go under 2:17 on his final timed lap at 2:16.8 time on his final timed lap. It was his second pole position in Macau since the 2013 Macau Grand Prix. Following late-session improvements and a battle between both drivers, Engel took third and Mortara was fourth, giving Mercedes three positions in the top four. Jarvis qualified 14th in his first Macau race since winning the 2007 Macau Grand Prix and Tsugio Matsuda in 15th completed the starting order. Post-qualifying The FIA changed the performance balance again before the qualifying race, reducing the minimum ballast of the three KCMG-fielded Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3s by for better handling. The vehicles' performance was also improved, with turbocharger boost increases across the board. O'Young started from the back of the field after changing engines after qualifying. Qualifying classification ==Qualifying race==

won both the qualification and the main race to achieve his first victory in Macau since 2009. The qualifying race to determine the main race's starting order began at 13:05 Macau Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on November 17 under overcast conditions of . Matsuda failed to start because smoke billowed from the front of his car as the formation lap began. The safety car was dispatched almost immediately for a three-car collision. Laurens Vanthoor and Mortara collided as Mortara was defending from Vanthoor and Bamber on both sides into Mandarin Bend turn. Mortara swerved to the right as Bamber did the same, colliding with Laurens Vanthoor. Vanthoor went into a half-spin, crashing sideways into the outside barrier and rolling back across the circuit. He was unhurt. Two laps were completed under safety car conditions to allow Laurens Vanthoor's car to be removed from the track before it was withdrawn for the third lap restart. Farfus took longer than usual to resume racing speeds after steering his car from side to side on the back straight before the final turn. By the end of the third lap, he had a second's advantage over Marciello after a clean start., subsequently extendinb it to 2 seconds. Marciello set the race's fastest lap of 2:17.989 on lap seven to briefly threaten a comeback, but Farfus quickly responded by lapping four-tenths of a second faster on lap eight and then by seven-tenths of a second faster on lap nine, resetting the fastest lap to 2:17.987. Farfus could then gradually extend his lead, even though Marciello and his teammate Engel were faster in the track's mountain section. He won the 12-lap qualifying race, claiming pole position for the main race by 3.812 seconds over Marciello. The final classified finishers were Engel, Mortara, Bamber, Frijns, Haase, Dries Vanthoor, Jaminet, Imperatori, Fong, Jarvis and O'Young. Qualification Race classification ==Main race==

On November 18, at 12:25 p.m. local time, the race began in overcast conditions. Farfus made a quick start from pole position and steered to the inside to maintain the lead over Marciello entering the first turn. As Farfus entered Lisboa corner, Maricello applied pressure, but he was unable to overtake him and remained second. Behind Farfus and Maricello, Mortara and his teammate Engel were third and fourth with Bamber fifth. He returned to the track without necessitating the yellow flags and dropped to tenth. Farfus eventually led all 18 laps to achieve his first Macau victory since the 2009 Guia Race of Macau, his fourth in Macau, and his first GT victory on the Guia Circuit. BMW became the third manufacturer to win the FIA GT World Cup. Engel followed 0.981 seconds later in second. His teammate Mortara, whose car lacked downforce and pace, finished third after overcoming an early race error at Police bend. Bamber in fourth was the final car in the lead pack. Frijns was the highest-placed Audi driver, finishing fifth, giving four manufacturers a presence in the top five. Frijns finished two seconds ahead of Haase, who was sixth. Jaminet and Dries Vanthoor finished seventh and eighth, respectively, with Marciello ninth. Imperatori was the highest-finishing Nissan driver, finishing tenth. The final four finishers were Fong, Jarvis, Matuda, and O'Young. During a race with no safety car deployments, only three overtakes happened. Main Race classification ==See also==

Notes References ==External links==