Craft-Bamboo Racing and Porsche Design wrap up the 65th Macau Grand Prix weekend with a solid team effort. The team faced several issues throughout the weekend, but the collaboration with Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific and the expertise of Craft-Bamboo Racing’s engineers meant that official Porsche driver Mathieu Jaminet was able to challenge and move up the field all weekend.
Qualifying
P10 – Mathieu Jaminet [#991 Porsche 911 GT3 R] – 2:19.249
Qualifying Race
Saturday’s Qualifying Race began under overcast conditions, with the air temperature hanging at a cool 23 degrees Celsius. With 2 cars on the competitive grid and the potential of making up positions, Craft-Bamboo Racing was optimistic of fighting through the field in the much anticipated Qualifying race for the 2018 FIA GT World Cup.
After Mathieu Jaminet’s issue with finding the perfect balance on the bumpy circuit in the practice and qualifying sessions, the team made several changes to his dark chrome Porsche Design #991 Porsche 911 GT3 R to help improve performance. Jaminet started from 10th on the grid of the qualification race, and took a cautious start, which paid off as there was a big accident up ahead. Jaminet made his way past the incident and was improving on his pace lap-after-lap.
Just as the Frenchman found himself getting into a rhythm, the chequered flag fell and he finished in P9 on his debut race in Macau. The team had confidence with the package and Jaminet’s ability to fight through the field for the final race on Sunday.
Main Race
Jaminet had work to do for the last race of the weekend starting P9. However after working closely with the engineers, the team were confident that there was pace to be found.
The start was fairly uneventful, with Jaminet holding his position keeping it clean. The Frenchman pushed hard for the initial few laps to maintain the gap to the cars in front. On lap 7 however, the 2nd placed Mercedes made a mistake whilst trying to overtake for the lead and lost several positions, allowing Jaminet move up to 8th place. He then settled into a rhythm, attempting to chase down the car in front. In the ensuing laps, Jaminet was on the bumper of the Audi in front. After putting on the pressure, the Audi made a mistake and Jaminet managed to pass for 8th position. From there on, he drove a mature remainder of the race and brought the car home after a clean race and finished in P7.
Given the depth of the field and it being Jaminet’s first time at the daunting street circuit, it was a good result and an exceptional team effort all weekend; the mechanics and engineers worked hard to fix the damage incurred from on-track incidents and also improving the car with the engineers from Porsche Motorsport. The team are motivated and determined to work hard and come back next year with an even stronger result.
Craft-Bamboo Racing’s challenge for the FIA GT World Cup title would not be possible without Porsche Design, Ganten, Aspec, POAD, Gravity, Stand 21 and Orangebus.
Quotes
Russell O’Hagan – Operations Director of Craft-Bamboo Racing
“Despite the end result not being up to our expectations, it was a good team performance as the mechanics and engineers worked hard to improve the car all weekend. Jaminet also drove well, finishing P7 in his first attempt at the challenging Macau circuit.
Lots of positives to take away from the weekend and we end the season with lots of learning experiences. Rest assured we will be working hard over the off-season to come back stronger next year!”
Mathieu Jaminet – Driver #991 Porsche Design Porsche 911 GT3 R
“Starting P9 and brought it home in P7. Managed to get a clean race and improved the performance slightly and was closer to the cars in front but it wasn’t enough. From where we came from it wasn’t a bad result, just a shame the weekend is over. Overall it was a positive experience for everyone, and it was never easy coming to Macau as a rookie. But we kept it clean and had no major incidents. I think as a team we worked hard fixing several issues in different areas but it was good to use this as a learning experience.
In the end it wasn’t where we wanted to be but there were plenty of positives to take from the weekend. Would just like to thank the team; the mechanics and engineers had a lot of things to work on, and the management of the team was great. Was nice to be a part of Craft-Bamboo Racing again and looking forward to working with them in the future.”
