Josh Buchan has claimed his second win of the season and became the first Australian driver to win the Macau Guia Race in its 63-year history after first defending against Santiago Urrutia and later Ma Qing Hua every lap until the finish.
Buchan started from pole well and led the way into T1, while Ma seemed to have a good start, but he was then passed by his teammate Urrutia on the way into the Mandarin bend and dropped to third. Ma then lost one more spot as Mikel Azcona slid up the inside at San Francisco.
Buchan and Urrutia then were involved in an epic battle for the lead, with the Australian successfully covering off the inside into Lisboa over the next five laps, while Urrutia tried his hardest to find a way past him. Things got dramatic on lap 7, when Urrutia tried for the undercut after Lisboa into San Francisco, but Buchan moved over to cover him and they made contact. Urrutia lost pace and this held up Azcona behind him, which allowed Ma through to take up the mantle of fighting Buchan.
Urrutia made his way into the pits with a puncture, while two laps later Azcona also suffered a puncture on the way towards Mandarin and slowed, which caused Esteban Guerrieri to back off in avoidance; Thed Björk and Ignacio Montenegro benefitted from the situation and went through for P3 and P4.
Buchan continued to defend for the final three laps against Ma, eventually crossing the line less than half a second ahead of the Chinese driver and securing an incredibly hard-fought victory on the streets of Macau. Fellow Macau rookie Ignacio Montenegro finished an impressive fourth and the best-placed of the Honda drivers, while Max Hart was the top CUPRA in seventh, having worked his way forward from 12th on the grid, with Buchan’s teammate Ryan MacMillan also going from 16th to ninth.
Newly-crowned champion Yann Ehrlacher had an awkward end to the season, hitting the barriers at Lisboa during the final lap after receiving a tap by Norbert Michelisz and finished just outside of the top ten.
Race 2
- Josh Buchan (HMO Customer Racing, Hyundai Elantra N), 10 laps
- Ma Qing Hua (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL), 0.414
- Thed Björk (Lynk & Co Cyan Racing, Lynk & Co 03 FL), 2.405
Championship points – TCR World Tour
- Y. Ehrlacher, 484 pts; 2. T. Björk, 460; 3. E. Guerrieri, 385
Picture: WSC/Jun Qian Motorsport
