Darryl O’Young has huge incident halfway through Race 1
#95 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 classified in P2
O’Young unharmed but long repair works scheduled overnight
It was a long Saturday at the 68th Macau Grand Prix. During the Warm Up session of the Macau GT Cup, an Audi car had a hefty impact with the barriers and the session was cut short. Following long delays due to barrier repair, the Macau GT Cup Race 1 started as the sun began to set. Darryl O’Young started in his #95 Mercedes-AMG GT3 from P2 and maintained his position at the race start. Halfway through the session, O’Young was caught unawares with a slippery surface and his car spiralled out of control, going straight into the barriers.
O’Young had a good and clean start alongside the Porsche in Pole Position. Throughout the first couple of laps, he came under pressure from another Porsche behind. But he managed to stay ahead, showing years of experience and placing the car perfectly. Once the car behind pulled into the pits, O’Young set his sights on chasing down the man in front. The two protagonists traded fastest laps as they began to battle harder.
At the end of 4 laps a Lamborghini had an engine failure and with smoke blowing out of the rear of the car, there was a significant amount of oil on the tarmac. O’Young approached the site of the stranded car, however was not aware of the slippery track. He hit the brakes as he approached Lisboa Bend and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 spun out of control. Losing the rear end, O’Young went straight in the barrier, narrowly missing the stricken Lamborghini and coming to a stop, immediately bringing out a red flag.
Race 1
Darryl O’Young | Driver, #95 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
P2 - Red Flag
The race was declared over due to lack of daylight. As a red flag was brought out, the grid was classified as they crossed the start-finish line in the previous lap, handing O’Young the P2 finish. Although it is not the most conventional finish, the Craft-Bamboo Racing team will start from the front row for tomorrow’s main Race 2. O’Young is largely unharmed and declared fit after a quick trip to the Medical Center. The team will have to work hard into the night to get the damaged car repaired and race ready for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the final day of the 68th Macau Grand Prix, and arguably the most important. The Macau GT Cup champion will be crowned following Race 2, which is scheduled to take place at 1310hrs (GMT+8).
QUOTE
Darryl O’Young | Driver, #95 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3
“It’s probably not the most conventional way to take second place. At the end it is P2, but a quite disappointing finish obviously. The race started out well and I had a pretty good start. Leo, next to me, had a good start as well, so we were equal and touched a couple times as we went into Turn 1, but he was able to hold his position. From there we were quite equal in pace. He had a better opening lap but once my car came in a bit, it was quite good. We had a similar pace to battle.
There was a blown engine up ahead and we approached it quite quickly, but there wasn’t any indication of oil on the track. I couldn’t hear clearly on my radio, I knew there was a crash up ahead but I didn’t realize there was going to be oil on the track and we didn’t see any slippery surface flag. I braked lighter, but not too light and once I touched the brakes, the car just lost the rear end and was out of control. The car took a pretty big hit, but I feel okay. I had to go to the Medical Center to get checked.
Overall, the main thing right now is whether the car can be repaired. If we get the car fixed, we’ll be back in P2. The mechanics are going to do everything they can to get the car fixed for tomorrow’s race. It did take quite a big hit but I have seen the Craft-Bamboo Racing team really work miracles before at Macau, so we are going to try to do it again. Hopefully, we’ll be on the grid fighting for the win tomorrow.”
