Macau Grand Prix: Darryl O’Young overcomes oil slip drama to keep podium hopes alive – ‘hopefully we’ll be on the grid tomorrow’
- The GT Cup headliner was cut short after O’Young crashes into barriers having clocked second-fastest lap time
- ‘I have seen the team perform miracles before in Macau so we’re going to try to do it again,’ he says of damaged car
The 41-year-old three-time GT Cup winner nonetheless finished second on the podium with his fastest lap time of 2:21.113 – meaning he will start in the front row on Sunday’s final round pending vehicle repairs.
The incident came in round five, soon after Chinese driver Tang Ruobin was forced to pull up as his engine was smoking profusely, leaving a trail of oil on the tracks. Unaware of the spill, O’Young and his Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO slid and snaked into the barrier – almost going over – and just missing Tang’s static Lamborghini.
An initial red flag was raised to suspend the race, before the race was declared and all drivers were ushered back to paddock. The result was called from the order of the previous lap, where O’Young was in second and still in contention behind Ye Hongli in pole position.
The Craft Bamboo Racing driver appeared to be relatively unscathed walking to the medical centre and standing on the podium with Toro Racing’s Ye (2:20.988) and third-placed Luo Kailuo (2:21.358). Depending on whether O’Young’s team can find the right car parts, the leading trio start in their same positions for Sunday’s final 12-lap race.
“The car took a pretty big hit. I feel OK. There were a lot of people concerned but I feel fine,” said O’Young, who missed a podium spot in last year’s iteration.
