‘I was lucky … I’m happy to be alive’: carnage as cars pile up in Macau GT Cup qualifying crash
Racing suspended for more than hour after several cars flung in the air before landing on each other on tight bend of Guia Circuit
A massive pile-up during the first lap of Saturday’s qualifying for the Suncity Macau GT Cup – FIA GT World Cup has thrown the event into disarray.
“I was lucky and I am happy to be alive,” said Brazilian Raffaele Marciello (Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing) who escaped the spectacular crash. “It’s a special track but it’s also scary.”
Only four cars – out of a field of 20 – cruised away from the carnage at Policeman’s Bend and racing was suspended for more than an hour while teams assessed the damage.
Just eight cars were made ready for the restart – with qualifying set at 25 minutes – but the drama was not over as two-time GT champ Maro Engel’s Mercedes initially failed to make it out of the pits, before tacking on two laps in arrears.
Remarkably, there were no initial reports of injuries from the incident, which saw cars flying this way, and that, before landing on each other in one of the tightest places on the 6.12-kilometre Guia Circuit.