RALF Schumacher added to his family's racing legacy with victory in the 42nd Macau Grand Prix, an event marred by a massive pileup at the start of the second leg of the race.
The 20-year-old brother of reigning Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher led the pack after the 15-lap first stage on the Portuguese enclave's treacherous street circuit in a time of 35:05.832.
He was declared winner after a wreck involving at least 14 cars rendered the second half of the race, the weekend's grand finale, null and void.
Officials managed to briefly restart the race as the afternoon shadows lengthened, but then a another accident involving Helio Castro Neves' PSR Racing Honda on the second lap of the restart at Yacht Club Bend forced marshals to stop racing again. Castro Neves was shaken by the 200-km/h crash and requested a doctor on the track.
Even though his car was off the racing line, in the name of safety, clerk of the course Derek Duggan cancelled the second leg. As a result, organisers were also forced to cancel the final event on the program, the Airport Race. Schumacher won by 6.32 seconds behind the wheel of a Opel-Spiess from find-of-the-weekend, 21-year-old Jarno Trulli driving another Opel-Spiess. Officially third in the shortened event was this year's Japanese F3 champion, Pedro de la Rosa. He was only 11/100ths of a second away from Trulli.
Of the leading brigade after the first leg, only Schumacher, Trulli and Macau-raised Andre Couto driving a Fiat-Nova escaped the spectacular pileup unscathed. Couto was doubly fortunate to reach the restart because he came from sixth on the grid to be third around Lisboa Bend. De la Rosa said that Argentinian Norberto Fontana, who was fifth on the grid, went into the wall first and was shunted from behind by German Sascha Maassen which triggered the chain reaction. What followed was one car after another cannoning into the growing pile of twisted wreckage. Amazingly, not one driver needed medical attention. Fontana was particularly lucky, his car catapulted into the air and came to rest on the opposite side of the track with its wheels pointing skywards.