Sam Bird capped
off his maiden Macau weekend in
style, finishing 6th in the Grand Prix race on Sunday. In what observers
called "the most competitive Macau line-up for years", the BP
Ultimate Driver was this year's Top Rookie and also the leading driver
from outside of Japanese F3 (the top five finishers having competed in the
Far East this season).
Following an
impressive performance in Saturday’s Qualifying Race, Bird
lined up fifth for the Grand Prix Race. Making his customary stunning
start, the CJ Motorsport managed racer overtook British F3
Champion Asmer and Euroseries contender James Jakes to challenge
Oshima for second place. By the time the 30 strong field reached Lisboa, Bird
was third behind eventual winner Oliver Jarvis and Oshima.
However, having had to
start the race on used tyres following his incident in Thursday's practice
session, Sam struggled for early pace against the men on fresh rubber and,
unable to carry equal speed into the straights, he had no choice but
to yield to Asmer, Tsukakoshi and Streit successively. After a few laps, once
the considerable performance advantage of new tyres had faded, Sam was back on
level terms and was challenging Streit for 5th when the safety car was
called out.
Over the five
remaining racing laps, the MSA Elite driver remained in contention
with some stunning lap times (personal best: 2:12.310) , but was unable to
get past, and eventually took the chequered flag in sixth.
Team Principal Trevor Carlin commented,
"Sam was extremely impressive; he made another fantastic start to
challenge for the lead before settling into third place. Unfortunately he
wasn't quite able to maintain that position but in a field a strong as
this year's, it's still an incredibly impressive performance from a Macau rookie."
Sam added “I
made a good start and made up some places but despite my best efforts, I just
couldn’t match their straight line speed. I would have loved to
have got onto the podium for my team and myself but it wasn't to be. It has
been an awesome experience to bring a close to my racing season and I want to
take this opportunity to thank those who have supported me this year, in
particular my main sponsors BP Ultimate, and my managers Serge Celebidachi and
James Olivier from CJ Motorsport.”
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