Macau, 6th November 2014 - The FIA Formula 3 European Championship season is finished, but still the biggest Formula 3 race of them all is yet to be held: the Macau Grand Prix.
Indonesian Sean Gelael will be part of the 28-car field in his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen, and the 18-year-old can hardly wait to get down to business and attack the legendary street circuit.
The event takes place over four days, with practice and qualifying on Thursday and Friday (13th/14th November), the qualification race on Saturday (15th November) and the Macau Grand Prix proper on Sunday 16th November.
“I’m really looking forward to it, especially with the Carlin team,” said Gelael. “I think we can do a really good job. We’ve been working really hard with the simulator and with preparation, so it should be a good result.”
Sean travels out from his studies at Bath University in England on Friday 7th November in order to acclimatise to the different time zone. But he won’t be able to leave his studies behind completely – on Wednesday evening, the night before first practice and qualifying, he has to sit an exam, synchronising the time with his fellow students in England, in his hotel room in Macau!
And the following day he will face one of the most daunting tracks in the world, the one every young driver wants to succeed on. “It’s just… different!” he says. “People always tell you don’t crash, don’t crash, and sometimes that can make you be a bit too conservative, but definitely it is the most exciting track in the calendar. The most important thing is to drive well, take all the right lines, use all the road.”
Last year, Gelael had a strong first visit to Macau, finishing 17th in the qualification race before getting caught up in a chain-reaction accident in the final itself.
“We started off really well,” says Sean. “Then finally we cut the floor [to reduce downforce and increase straight-line speed] for the Grand Prix. It felt really nice on the warm-up laps, but my race only lasted two corners. But I’m going back there confident this year, especially with the run we have had in the last two rounds of the European championship. I am confident that we can be in the top 10 and then push for the top eight or top six.”
With a good record on street circuits, Sean is looking good for the year’s single most important race. After all, his first points in the European championship were claimed on the challenging streets of Pau in France, and his best result came at the Norisring, in Nuremberg in Germany.
“I do not mind street circuits at all – I am really excited about Macau!” says Gelael. (ms/arl)
