The battle to get into the top ten was one of the key fights of the race, with Pepe Oriola fighting off the charging Santiago Urrutia for almost half the race to keep the Lynk & Co driver behind his Honda and help to secure teammate Esteban Guerrieri’s third place in the championship.
Oriola had qualified down in 13th after a mistake, while an engine and turbo change for Urrutia had put him down in 16th with the relevant grid penalty.
When Urrutia caught Oriola on lap four, the two drivers had a tough battle, with Oriola careful to force Urrutia wide into the sharp right-hand Lisboa bend before covering off the inside to San Francisco. Oriola eventually had to relinquish the position with three laps to go, with Urrutia successfully diving down the inside at San Francisco.
“At the start I was a little bit nervous as it was my first start in the Honda, and we’ve seen drivers have stalled this a couple of times, but my start was good,” said Oriola.
“Then when Santi came, I knew i had to defend, as I wanted to help secure Esteban’s P3 in the championship, so I was not going to let him past. I had fun and used my experience, but he just had much more pace, then the tyres were gone, and I just locked up a little bit more. I think it was good for the TV, and I enjoyed it. I’ve shown if I get back up to speed, the experience is there, and I can withstand the pressure.”
Urrutia enjoyed the battle but has now turned his sights towards tomorrow’s race where he’ll start from third on the grid. “It was a shame I had to start from behind as we had an engine change, but it was fun. Starting at the back and finishing P10 was quite good. Pepe was defending well, maybe a little bit too much sometimes, but it’s part of Macau, it’s so hard to overtake even if you are quicker. In the end he made a mistake, and I was able to overtake him after Lisboa. Let’s see tomorrow as I start from P3. We were not so fast in sector one, so the key will be to get a good start, get a good getaway, push and take some risks as there’s nothing to lose.”
Picture: WSC/Jun Qian Motorsport
