Macau Guia Race
 | This article needs more citations. (October 2023) |
| Guia Circuit | |
 | |
| Race information | |
|---|---|
| Most wins (drivers) |  Robert Huff (10) |
| Most wins (constructors) |  BMW (21) |
| Last race (2023) | |
| Race 1 Winner | |
| Race 2 Winner | |
The Macau Guia Race - Kumho TCR World Tour Event of Macau, previously Guia Race of Macau, WTCC Guia Race of Macau, WTCR Macau Guia Race and Macau Guia Race - TCR Asia Challenge, is an international touring car race, and currently a round of the TCR World Tour. It is held on the temporary 6.2 km Guia Circuit on the streets of Macau, the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China as part of the Macau Grand Prix weekend. Before 2005 when the World Touring Car Championship began, the Guia race had been run annually as a one-off international touring car race.
History
[edit]Since its first running in 1972, the race has been won by international touring car greats such as Tom Walkinshaw, Johnny Cecotto, Roberto Ravaglia, Emanuele Pirro, Joachim Winkelhock and Andy Priaulx.
Historically it is also one of the most popular races of the weekend as it featured cars that are commonly seen on the Hong Kong and Macau roads.
TCR
[edit]Since 2018, it has been run under the TCR championship banner, first as World Touring Car, then China Touring Car from 2020 to 2022.
In 2023, it was part of the TCR World Tour, as the final round, with the top 8 TCR Asia Challenge drivers calculated by points be part of the race.[1][2]
Previous championship status
[edit]Prior to being a World Touring Car Championship round, the Guia Race had previously been an FIA Championship round. In 1994, it was a round of the Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship. The race also acted as a point scoring round for the Asian Touring Car Championship from 2000 to 2003. From 2005 to 2019, it was the final round of the World Touring Car Championship. It often attracts local drivers competing alongside the series regulars, such as André Couto and Ao Chi Hong.
Technical regulation changes
[edit]The race has run to different touring car rules as European touring car championships went through their own changes. The race was run to European Group 5 regulations in the early eighties, then adopted FIA Group A rules between 1983 and 1990. It then ran to DTM rules from 1991 to 1993 before changing to Super Touring rules in 1994. From 2000, it started using Super Production regulations until 2004, when it sampled Super 2000 machinery before being upgraded to a round of the FIA WTCC.
Since 2018, it has been run to TCR regulations.
Sporting regulation changes
[edit]The race has changed in format over the years, from the 30 lapper back in the Group A era to the current, double race format with each race lasting 9 laps. Prior to becoming a round of the WTCC in 2005, the race was staged over two legs, with the winner being declared as the driver with the best time aggregated from both legs.
Sponsors
[edit]The race has been sponsored by the Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM) since 2004. STDM boss Stanley Ho has presented the trophies to the race winners on the podium since the sponsorship began.
