Macau Grand Prix may see Daniel Juncadella hold on to his crown

Defending champion Daniel Juncadella of Spain has been too fast and too furious for the rest of Europe this season and will be hoping to crown a fantastic season by retaining his Formula Three title at the Macau Grand Prix next month.

Juncadella headlines a powerful field for the race, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Back in 1983, at the very first race, a Brazilian named Ayrton Senna won the event. That victory put Macau on the map as Senna later went on to be crowned world Formula One champion.

Since then seven more drivers who have raced in Macau have gone on to be crowned F1 world champion - Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, Sebastien Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

Juncadella, who is leading both the Formula 3 Euro Series and the FIA European Formula 3 Championship, will be hoping to add his name to this illustrious line-up as organisers yesterday unveiled a competitive field of 30 drivers.

Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, co-ordinator of the Macau Grand Prix race committee, said: "We have 30 superb entries and what is particularly notable is that every one of the cars on the grid at Macau will be the next generation Dallara F3 chassis, which was only launched at the start of this season, and is still in limited supply."

Juncadella is joined at the Prema Powerteam by a young driver hotly tipped as a future F1 star, Raffaele Marciello, already a Ferrari protégé, who will make his Macau debut. Also among the newcomers are the newly crowned British F3 champion, Jack Harvey, fellow Briton Harry Tincknell, Pipo Derani of Brazil and the German Pascal Wehrlein.