It was appropriate that Asia's gambling mecca was the scene of a high-risk bet that came off in yesterday's 23-lap Guia Race for touring cars.
BMW Motorsport Team Schnitzer gambled all by shodding Jo Winkelhock's BMW 320i with soft compound tyres to give him an extra-quick getaway from pole position. The ploy worked perfectly in both legs with Winkelhock eventually posting an easy 18-second win over Italian Max Angelelli in a Racing Project Bandoh Toyota EXIVS.
Third was Australian Brad Jones in an Audi Motorsport Australia A4 Quattro and he was lucky to even start following a high-speed brush at Mandarin Bend during morning practice.
Bad-luck story of the race belonged to the second Audi driver, German Frank Biela, who was forced to retire during the second leg with gearbox failure.
But the race belonged to German Winkelhock, whose speed off the line left his 25 rivals gasping in disbelief.
After one lap he opened a remarkable 3.6-second break over Biela and by lap seven he had built it to nearly 6.5 seconds before Biela reeled the tearaway leader in.
But Winkelhock still held a handy 3.8-second buffer and another brilliant start in leg two, where he again outpaced the Audis off the line, saw him 6.6-seconds clear and seemingly safe. When Biela limped into the pits five laps into the second leg, the race was in the bag and Winkelhock backed off and cruised to victory.