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Drivers apologise for the poor show in Macau after red flag wrecked races

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Several drivers spoke up to apologise for the races today in Macau, as the two Guia Races were cut short after a number of incidents, meaning only four full laps of green flag running took place in just over two-and-a-half hours.

The qualifying race was red flagged on the first lap after three incidents, first with Teamwork Citroën driver Sunny Wong crashing out at Reservoir, before WestCoast Racing’s Gianni Morbidelli hit the wall at Mandarin with contact from LMS Racing’s Antti Buri.

The third incident involved the Team TRC Honda of James Tang. The race was stopped behind the red flag, resuming after 15 minutes, but was then held behind the safety car when contact between Craft-Bamboo SEAT driver James Nash and B3 SEAT’s Mat’o Homola at Lisboa saw Homola stuck in the wall and blocking the track.

The race finished behind the safety car with effectively just two half-laps of green flag racing.

Things were marginally better for the main race, when the race was red flagged on lap three after Sunny Wong, in his repaired Citroën, crashed out at Moorish, again blocking the track.

The race resumed with just two laps of green flag running, with Tiago Monteiro claiming his first victory in Macau.

Jean-Karl Vernay finished second after passing Leopard Volkswagen team-mate Stefano Comini at the restart, while Craft-Bamboo SEAT’s Pepe Oriola grabbed third on the podium, passing Comini at the same place one lap later.

“I’m sorry for the fans,” said Vernay. “I really must apologise for the show today. We were not able to show what a TCR race was, we just had safety cars and red flags, and I’m sorry for that.”

Oriola echoed his title rival’s comments.

“I’m really sorry for the people that have come to Macau, and the people who got up in Europe to watch our show.

“One of the main characteristics of TCR is that we have good fights and are able to put on a good show, but today we were not able to put on a good show as we had red flags which were just too much. I know we need to be safe, but people were here to see us racing.”