Mike Conway Wins Grand Prix of Macau

Written on November 19, 2006 by a2zMacau

Britain’s Mike Conway surged from a seventh-place start to win an incident-filled 53rd Macau Grand Prix on Sunday after a mishap on the first lap sent the three front-runners out of contention.

American Richard Antinucci made an impressive comeback from a ninth place start to finish second, while Adrian Sutil of Germany came third.

Marko Asmer of Estonia edged past pole sitter Kamui Kobayashi of Japan just seconds after the start, but overshot into an escape area at the first sharp bend of the race, forcing a collision that held back the two leaders and sent Briton Paul Di Resta’s car spinning.

Asmer returned to the track to finish in 13th place and Kobayashi came 19th. Di Resta crashed again later and didn’t finish.

After the safety made an appearance on the fourth lap, Conway, driving a Dallara Mercedes-HWA, held on to his lead for the rest of the race to take the title with a time of 39 minutes and 35.404 seconds.

Antinucci, also in a Dallara Mercedes-HWA, climbed close to the leaders halfway into the race, reaching fourth place entering the eighth lap behind Conway, Japan’s Kohei Hirate and Sutil, who passed Nakajima in the previous lap. The American then passed Sutil in the ninth lap, and Hirate crashed out in the 14th.

Describing how he took the lead after the initial collision, Conway said; “I just made a really good start and all the way down the straight just positioned myself well. I got the inside of the track.”

The reigning British Formula Three champion said he scraped his vehicle against the wall slightly but it didn’t sustain major damage.

Antinucci, who said he hit the wall twice, he pushed hard to overtake Conway but was slowed by a backmarker.

“We’ve come from ninth to second. We’ve proved a good point. I think that’s enough for today,” Antinucci said of his reasoning when he realized he couldn’t pass Conway.

In all, there were 11 accidents and five out of 32 drivers didn’t finish. No injuries were reported.

Courtesy | Conmitee Grand Prix of Macau