Felix Rosenqvist scored the greatest triumph of his career to date as he stormed to victory in the 2014 Suncity Group Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix on Sunday, becoming the first Swede since 1992 to win the world’s most prestigious junior single-seater race.
Rosenqvist set the pace throughout the weekend, topping Friday’s free practice and qualifying sessions at the 6.2 km Guia street circuit. The 23-year-old Kashbet.com by Mücke Motorsport driver then went on to win Saturday’s Qualification Race, setting the fastest lap in the process and handing himself pole position for Sunday’s all-important finale.
Once there, Rosenqvist kept his cool over 15 dramatic laps to claim a dominant victory, taking the chequered flag some 4.3 seconds ahead of second-placed Lucas Auer (Austria). The success makes Rosenqvist the only driver in history to have won each of the world’s three major Formula 3 races; the Masters of F3 at Zandvoort, the Grand Prix de Pau in France, and the Macau Grand Prix.
Rosenqvist becomes only the second Swede to win the prestigious Chinese street event, 22 years on from Rickard Rydell’s triumphant drive in 1992.
“Absolutely fantastic; this is the greatest day of my career,” Felix Rosenqvist celebrates. ”The Macau Grand Prix is the race I’ve always wanted to win, and now I’ve done it. I’m actually speechless right now, and I don’t even remember what happened during the race! This is such a complicated event, with safety cars, slipstreaming, traffic – it’s just the only race of its kind. Big, big thanks to the team for giving me a fantastic car – we really needed this after a tough season back in Europe. Now, I think there might be a small party tonight, and this victory will make the winter a lot, lot easier! Amazing.“
The first Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix was run in 1983 and won by Ayrton Senna. 15 of the drivers on the current Formula 1 grid have competed at the Macau Grand Prix, but none have won it.