2000 Macau Grand Prix

The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three (F3) race that has been described as the territory's most prestigious international sporting event and a steeping stone to higher-tier racing categories such as Formula One. The 2000 Macau Grand Prix was held for the 47th time in 2000, and the 18th time under F3 regulations. It was held on the temporary 22-turn Guia Circuit on 18 November 2000, after three days of practice and qualifying. This was the first Macau Grand Prix since Macau's sovereignty was transferred to China. The Macau Grand Prix Committee invited 30 drivers from 16 different countries to compete. Japan had the most drivers, with seven; Macau, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Austria all had two or more drivers competing. 18 of them made their Macau debuts. The drivers' average age was 23.6 years. All used Dallara chassis (F399 or F300) and engines from four manufacturers (Mugen-Honda, Opel Spiess, Renault Sodemo, and Toyota TOM'S). Two of the four major F3 series had champions on the grid. The winner of the Japanese series, Sébastien Philippe, was joined in Macau by French champion Jonathan Cochet. British champion Antônio Pizzonia was absent due to a clashing Champ Car test with Mo Nunn Racing. He was replaced at Manor Motorsport by local driver Lei Kit Meng. Outside of F3, André Couto of International Formula 3000 and Alex Yoong of Formula Nippon received invitations to compete in Macau. ==Practice and qualifying==

There were two half-hour practice sessions on Thursday morning and Friday morning that preceded the race on Sunday. Rain fell shortly before the first practice session started, intensifying as it progressed, but a dry racing line appeared before the session's conclusion. At one point, Narain Karthikeyan was more than seven seconds faster than any other driver in the session's opening minutes. His teammate Takuma Sato was fastest overall with a time of 2 minutes, 32.044 seconds. Paolo Montin consistently ran in the top five and set the provisional fastest lap time of 2 minutes, 15.374 seconds with three minutes remaining. Karthikeyan was three-tenths of a second slower in provisional second; he suffered minor rear-end damage after hitting a barrier at Moorish Hill corner. Slower traffic kept Cochet in third place and cost him seven chances to complete a full-speed lap around the tight circuit. Sato finished fourth after an engine breakage prevented him from improving his lap time near the end of qualifying. Gianmaria Bruni finished sixth after crashing into a barrier near the end of the session at Lisboa corner. Couto, Kaffer, Ryō Fukuda, and Philippe completed the top ten. Because he was 2.002 seconds slower than Montin, Peter Sundberg was the fastest driver not to qualify in the provisional top ten. Mathieu Zangarelli followed ahead of Yoong and Scheckter. but it was Sato who led when practice ended with a 2 minutes, 14.087 seconds lap, Karthikeyan reclaimed first place 20 minutes into the session with a new Guia Circuit track record of 2 minutes, 12.887 seconds and held it to start the first leg from pole position. Sato, his teammate, joined him on the grid's front row and pushed hard to be nearly four-tenths of a second slower. Fukuda moved to third place after grazing the circuit's barriers three times while pushing hard to lap faster and tearing his racing gloves. Kaffer advanced seven positions to start the first leg in fourth, while Zangarelli advanced seven positions to fifth, narrowly ahead of sixth-placed Couto. Friesacher qualified seventh, up fifteen places from his first session result. Toccacelo in eighth was ahead of fellow Italian Montin, who dropped nine positions to ninth, and Bruni in tenth. Cochet dropped from third to eleventh place, while Monteiro gained the most positions of any driver, starting from twelfth. Priaulx, Scheckter, Sundberg, Collins, Yoong, Ara, Kurosawa, Phillipe, Takagi, Kaneshi, Lechner, Pavlovi, Ide, Baumgartner, Ying, Kit, Merszei, and Ho completed the grid. Qualifying classification A driver's fastest time from the two qualifying sessions is denoted in bold. ==Warm-up==

A half an hour warm-up session was held on the morning of the race. Despite spinning, Kaffer reported no car problems and lapped quickest at 2 minutes, 18.293 seconds, almost three seconds faster than Friesacher in second place. Kaneishi finished third with a lap set late in warm-up, with Sato fourth. Collins, fifth, improved his top speed after modifying his car's setup and cutting his diffuser. Positions five to ten were filled by Scheckter, Priaulx, Monteiro, Lee, and Couto. ==Race==

The race on Sunday was divided into two aggregate legs totaling 30 laps. The results of the morning's first 15-lap leg determined the starting grid for the second leg, with the winner starting from pole position. Following that, a five-hour interval was held to allow for the intervening support races. Later in the afternoon, the second 15-lap leg began. The driver who completed all 30 laps in the shortest amount of time won the Grand Prix overall. Karthikeyan made a quick getaway from his grid position to maintain his lead into the Reservoir Bend corner, but he lost it to teammate Sato on the straight heading towards Lisboa turn. However, Sato missed the braking point for the corner and crashed into a tyre barrier, forcing him to retire. This returned the lead to his teammate Karthikeyan, who established a small but comfortable lead over the rest of the field. Ho retired after an accident leaving Mandarin Oriental Bend on the same lap. Positions changed behind him as Couto passed Fukuda for third on lap two, and he overtook Kaffer for second on the following lap. Toccacelo took eighth, Priaulx ninth and Monteiro tenth. Couto outran pole sitter Kaffer off the line and passed him entering Lisboa corner. Kaffer pressed Couto until Montin began to challenge him for second. Montin entered Kaffer's slipstream as the two drove towards the Lisboa turn on the fifth lap, and then turned right to make a pass under braking. Couto's lead was reduced after that, as Montin closed in on him and was close behind him at the start of the seventh lap. On laps seven and eight, Montin unsuccessfully attempted to pass Couto under braking at Lisboa corner. Kaffer was passed by the faster Fukuda for third position on the eighth lap. Montin was unable to overtake Couto because the safety car was deployed on lap thirteen after Lechner crashed into a wall beside the circuit at the R Bend, and no overtaking was permitted under these conditions. Montin finished second, with Fukuda rounding out the podium in third place. Kaffer finished fourth, and Tocacello finished fifth, having advanced three positions from his first leg result. An engine cut out at the Melco hairpin and the main straight left Scheckter in sixth. Collins finished seventh, and Priaulx, the second British driver in Macau, finished eighth overall. Monteiro and Friesacher finished in the top ten. Cochet, Sundberg, Lee, Baumgartner, Takagi, Lei, Ara, Merszei, Zangarelli, and Kaneishi were the final classified finishers outside the top ten. Race classification ==References==