Macau Grand Prix’s prestigious Guia Race has 45 years of history – but faces uncertain future
Drivers are waiting anxiously to see what the coming years will have in store for the prestigious touring cars event
The cliche is that the toughest circuits bring out the best from the best but Tom Coronel says he knows exactly what it takes to win the Macau Guia Race.
“It’s a place where you need real balls,” he says. “The racing can be so tight that if you make one mistake, everyone in the field pays for it.”
The veteran touring car driver might be missing in action this year after previously racing in Macau around a dozen times in various classes – he’s preparing for a solo assault on the Dakar race – but Coronel will be watching every moment of coverage from his base in the Netherlands. As, he says, will the rest of the international racing community.
“If you’re not there, you watch it and wish you were there,” says Coronel. “People compare it to Monaco but Monaco is for [wimps]. Macau has a great history and we are all hoping to see where this race goes in the future.”
This weekend sees the Guia Race celebrate its 45th anniversary but this edition marks its last under a current agreement with the TCR International Series. That means its future is up in the air, with possibilities being bandied about including a new FIA Touring Car World Cup – which would give the Macau weekend three FIA World Cup events, with the F3 and GT – or a return into the arms of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, which hosted a round in Macau from 2005-2014.