Mortara Returns for Macau GT Debut

Having enjoyed title sponsorship from Windsor Arch on its debut in 2008, this year Star River‧Windsor Arch lends its name to the 4^th running of the Macau GT Cup.

With the strongest entry in its four-year history, the lure of the Star River‧Windsor Arch Macau GT Cup has proven so great it has attracted the man who made Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix history in 2010 by becoming the only driver to win the FIA Formula 3 Intercontinental Cup twice. Italian Edoardo Mortara will race an Audi R8 LMS GT3 for the Audi Sport Customer Racing China, making his debut at Macau in a GT car.

Mortara has been competing in the prestigious DTM championship with the Audi Sport Team this year, notching up two podium finishes so far in his debut season.

The race will also see the Asian debut of the mighty new McLaren MP4-12C GT3 as it takes to the track for the very first time. At the wheel will be none other than Le Mans class winner Briton Daniel Watts (Danny)  racing for GR Asia Ltd. 

Having competed at Macau for the last ten years in both single seaters and sportscars, victory on the Guia Circuit has so far eluded Watts who finished 3^rd in the GT event last year and in 2009, and was runner-up in the inaugural race in 2008.

However, the man who has truly mastered the demanding street circuit in a GT car, two-time Macau GT Cup-winner Keita Sawa of Japan, will be back to defend his crown in an SPS Motorsport Lamborghini LP-560 GT3. Sawa currently leads the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia series with two rounds of the 2011 season remaining.

Joining Sawa from Japan is the Hitotsuyama Racing pair of Japanese Super GT GT300 regular Akihiro Tsuzuki racing an Audi R8 LMS GT3, and Kenji Kobayashi in a Porsche GT3 Cup 3.8, and Tomonobu Fujii in a Craft Eurasia Racing Aston Martin DBRS9.

Macau’s Rodolfo Avila of Team Jebsen, who trails Sawa by just a single point in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia title fight, is entered in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Avila was unable to start in Macau last year after damaging his car in qualifying, and will be looking to make amends on home turf this time around.

Joining Avila from the Macau SAR are fellow Porsche Carrera Cup Asia driver Vong Keng Fai, the only lady driver in the race, Diana Rosario, in a Ferrari F430, and Ivo Yiu in a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup with local team Champ Motorsport.

A strong contingent from the GT Asia Series is entered, including front-runners Eddie Junior Yau of Hong Kong, racing an Asia Racing Team Porsche 911 GT3 R, Singapore’s Mok Weng Sun in a Team Clearwater Racing Ferrari F458 GT3, and Dilantha Malagamuwa of Sri Lanka at the wheel of a Dilango Racing Lamborghini LP 560-4.

As well as the Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and McLaren entries, two Ford GT3, a Ginetta and a Lotus feature amongst the 35-strong field.