Race details Date 19 November 2006 Official name 53rd Polytec Macau Grand Prix Location Guia Circuit, Macau Course Temporary street circuit Distance Qualifying Race10 laps, Main Race15 laps, Weather Qualifying Race: Bright and dryMain Race: Cloudy and dry Qualifying Race Pole Driver Kamui Kobayashi ASM Formule 3 Time 2:13.449 Fastest Lap Driver Mike Conway Räikkönen-Robertson Racing Time 2:13.457 (on lap 4 of 10) Podium First Kamui Kobayashi ASM Formule 3 Second Marko Asmer Hitech Racing Third Kohei Hirate Manor Motorsport Main Race Pole Driver Kamui Kobayashi ASM Formule 3 Fastest Lap Driver Roberto Streit Prema Powerteam Time 2:12.527 (on lap 12 of 15) Podium First Mike Conway Räikkönen-Robertson Racing Second Richard Antinucci ASM Formule 3 Third Adrian Sutil TOM'S The 2006 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 53rd Polytec Macau Grand Prix) was a Formula Three (F3) car race held on 19 November 2006, on the streets of Macau. Unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, the 2006 Macau Grand Prix was not part of any F3 championship, but was open to entries from all F3 championships. The race itself was made up of two races: a ten-lap qualifying race that set the starting order for the 15-lap main race. The 2006 race was the 53rd Macau Grand Prix and the 24th for F3 cars.
Mike Conway of Raikkonen-Robertson Racing won the Grand Prix after finishing seventh in the previous day's qualification race won by Kamui Kobayashi of ASM Formule 3. Conway took the lead after a multi-car accident between Kobayashi, Paul di Resta and Marko Asmer on the first lap of the race and held it to claim the first victory for a British driver in the Macau Grand Prix since Darren Manning in the 1999 edition. Richard Antinucci of ASM Formula 3 finished second, while TOM'S driver Adrian Sutil finished third.
Background and entry list The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three (F3) race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and has been termed the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The 2006 Macau Grand Prix was the event's 53rd running and the 24th under F3 rules. It took place on the 22-turn Guia Circuit on 19 November 2006 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.
Drivers had to compete in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated championship race in 2006, either in the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy or one of the domestic championships, with the highest-placed drivers earning priority in being invited to the race. Each of the four major F3 series had a champion on the event's 32-car grid. Paul di Resta, the F3 Euro Series champion, was joined in Macau by British title victor Mike Conway, Italian series winner Mauro Massironi and Japanese champion Adrian Sutil. The other F3 series champion in the entry list was James Winslow, the Asian F3 champion. He was joined by Spanish F3 Championship runner-up Roldán Rodríguez. Five Macanese drivers received invitations to compete in the race: Rodolfo Ávila, Michael Ho, Lei Kit Meng, Lou Meng Cheong and Jo Merszei. F3 Euro Series runner-up Sebastian Vettel was the pre-race favourite for victory.
Practice and qualifying There were two half-hour practice sessions before the race on Sunday: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. Kohei Hirate set the fastest time for Manor Motorsport in the opening practice session with a lap of 2 minutes, 14.887 seconds on his final attempt, 0.545 seconds faster than anybody else. His closest challenger was Roberto Streit of Prema Powerteam in second. Kazuki Nakajima took third in the session's closing moments and Conway was fourth having led for most of the session. Sutil, Richard Antinucci, his American compatriot Charlie Kimball, Vettel, Marko Asmer and Kamui Kobayashi followed in positions five through ten. Daisuke Ikeda was hit by another competitor during the session and spun backwards into the barrier at Lisboa turn. When Kazuya Oshima hit a wall at R-Bend corner, he damaged his vehicle's front-left wheel and suspension.
Qualifying was split into two 45-minute sessions, one on Thursday afternoon and one on Friday afternoon. Each driver's fastest time from either session counted toward their final starting place in the qualification race. The first qualifying session was held in cloudy weather, and the threat of rain never materialised because the start was delayed due to multiple crashes in the Guia Race of Macau practice session. Once qualifying commenced, Asmer went fastest with a 2 minutes, 13.965 seconds lap set ten minutes before it ended. He was the only driver to reach 2 minutes, 13 seconds. Hirate was provisionally second after moving up during the session to lead the field before Asmer's fastest lap. Romain Grosjean and Kamui Kobayashi ran strongly in qualifying and finished third and fourth, respectively. Fábio Carbone did little to set a quick lap and was provisionally fifth. Conway was the best-placed British driver in sixth. Though he entered the pit lane for a car and brake check after going off the circuit, Antinucci was seventh, Streit took eighth and Kimball ninth. Di Resta, tenth, had car handling difficulties, punctured his right-front tyre by driving over debris at the Melco hairpin and locked his brakes. Koudai Tsukakoshi, eleventh, was almost two seconds off Asmer's pace. Following him were the Carlin duo of Maro Engel and Sébastien Buemi and the Japanese pair of Nakajima and Oshima. The German duo of Sutil and Vettel took the 16th and 17th positions. The British F3 International Series Rookie of the Year Oliver Jarvis had food poisoning and took 18th, followed by fellow British drivers James Jakes and Stephen Jelley. Ikeda, Yelmer Buurman, Jonathan Kennard, Rodríguez, Ho, Máximo Cortés, Ávila, Winslow, Cheong, Lei and Merszei completed the provisional grid order. Kimball pushed hard and crashed heavily at Fisherman's Bend corner, causing the session's first stoppage. Kimball was unhurt and exited his car unaided and helped clear debris. Soon after, Sutil ended the session two minutes early for not noticing a warning flag alterting drivers of the slippery track surface at Fisherman's Bend and striking a wall. Sutil was uninjured but remained in his car for several minutes for safety reasons.
The second thirty-minute practice session began with the provisional pole sitter Asmer drawing attention when he went wide at San Francisco Bend and collided with a barrier exiting the corner. Buemi then damaged his car's front-left corner by driving straight into a wall at Police Bend, and the session was stopped with ten minutes remaining when Oshima drifted into a barrier at R-Bend. Conway led with a lap of 2 minutes, 13.925 seconds despite being delayed by slower traffic. Antinucci followed 0.075 seconds behind in second. Grosjean, Jakes, Sutil, Nakajima, Vettel, Carbone, Tsukakoshi and fellow Japanese Kobayashi were in positions three through ten.
In the second qualifying session, Winslow and Kobayashi ran wide at the escape roads at San Francisco Bend and Lisboa corner respectively, resulting in localised yellow flags being waved and drivers being unable from setting a timed lap. Conway slid and struck the end of an outside tyre barrier near the pit lane entry at Fisherman's Bend with his right-rear tyre, bending his suspension, stopping qualifying 13 minutes in. Soon after, Sutil collided with the Police Bend barrier, littering debris to be removed and another stoppage to qualifying. When the session resumed, Hirate improved on Asmer's time to take pole position until Kobayashi claimed it with a 2 minutes, 13.449 seconds lap. The session was stopped for the third time because Kimball severely damaged his car's left side at R-Bend. He was unhurt. Separate crashes by Grosjean and Kobayashi due to a late rain shower caused the session to end early but Kobayashi's lap was fast enough for pole position. Hirate joined Kobayashi on the front row, while Grosjean remained third. Asmer could not repeat his first qualifying performance and was fourth. Antinucci was second when he entered Lisboa's escape road, but he dropped to fifth by the end of qualifying. Di Resta qualified sixth and avoided damage to his car by minor contact with the R-Bend barrier. Streit, Nakajima, Kimball and Vettel completed the top ten placings. Behind them the rest of the field consisted of Tsukakoshi, Conway, Carbone, Engel, Sutil, Jelley, Buemi, Ikoda, Jakes, Oshima, Kennard, Jarvis, Buurman, Cortés, Rodríguez, Massironi, Winslow, Ávila, Ho, Cheong, Lei and Merszei. After qualifying, Antinucci's fastest time from the session was deleted because he was found to have sped under yellow flag conditions during Thursday's sole practice session, dropping him to 15th. Ho received the same penalty, and Oshima was demoted ten starting places due to an engine change.
Qualifying classification Each of the driver's fastest lap times from the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold. +Final qualifying classification Driver Team 1 6 Kamui KobayashiASM Formule 3 2:14.500 42:13.449 1 1 2 1 Kohei HirateManor Motorsport 2:14.256 22:13.566 2 +0.117 2 3 16 Romain GrosjeanSignature 2:14.404 32:13.930 3 +0.481 3 4 18 Marko AsmerHitech Racing2:13.965 1 2:15.108 14 +0.516 4 5 4 Richard AntinucciASM Formule 3 2:15.242 72:14.105 4 +0.656 15 6 5 Paul di RestaASM Formule 3 2:15.593 102:14.175 5 +0.726 5 7 22 Roberto StreitPrema Powerteam 2:15.449 82:14.217 6 +0.768 6 8 2 Kazuki NakajimaManor Motorsport 2:16.302 142:14.231 7 +0.782 7 9 17 Charlie KimballSignature 2:15.479 92:14.379 8 +0.930 8 10 9 Sebastian VettelCarlin Motorsport 2:16.620 162:14.390 9 +0.941 9 11 21 Koudai TsukakoshiPrema Powerteam 2:15.957 112:14.553 10 +1.104 10 12 26 Mike ConwayRäikkönen-Robertson Racing 2:14.755 62:14.578 11 +1.129 11 13 14 Fábio Carbone ThreeBond Racing2:14.745 5 2:14.853 12 +1.296 12 14 12 Maro EngelCarlin Motorsport 2:16.102 122:14.857 13 +1.408 13 15 7 Adrian SutilTOM'S 2:16.978 172:15.159 15 +1.710 14 16 27 Stephen JelleyRäikkönen-Robertson Racing 2:17.320 202:14.490 16 +2.041 16 17 11 Sébastien BuemiCarlin Motorsport 2:16.280 132:15.614 17 +2.165 17 18 32 Daisuke Ikeda EMS Racing 2:17.533 212:15.786 18 +2.337 18 19 3 James JakesManor Motorsport 2:17.244 192:16.010 19 +2.561 19 20 8 Kazuya OshimaTOM'S2:16.575 15no time +3.126 30 21 24 Jonathan KennardAlan Docking Racing 2:18.211 232:16.644 20 +3.496 20 22 10 Oliver JarvisCarlin Motorsport 2:17.121 182:16.945 21 +3.195 21 23 15 Yelmer BuurmanFortec Motorsport 2:18.093 222:17.091 22 +3.496 22 24 20 Máximo CortésHitech Racing 2:20.443 272:17.191 23 +3.642 23 25 19 Roldán RodríguezHitech Racing 2:19.148 252:17.286 24 +3.837 24 26 29 Mauro MassironiOmbra Racing 2:18.654 242:18.494 25 +5.045 25 27 33 James Winslow ZAP Speed 2:20.699 292:18.957 26 +5.508 26 28 23 Rodolfo ÁvilaPerformance Racing 2:20.484 282:19.016 27 +5.567 27 29 28 Michael HoOmbra Racing 2:20.894 262:20.590 28 +7.141 28 30 30 Lou Meng CheongAlan Docking Racing2:24.118 30 2:25.917 29 +10.669 29 31 31 Lei Kit MengSwiss Racing Team2:24.662 31no time +11.213 31 32 30 Jo MerszeiSwiss Racing Team 2:27.708 322:26.326 30 +12.877 32
– Richard Antinucci and Michael Ho were penalised and their fastest lap times were deleted. – Kazuya Oshima was penalised by changing the engine and he was given a penalty of ten-place grid demotion.
Qualifying race