Freddie Slater admitted his “gamble” to try to get back into the lead of Macau Grand Prix backfired as he instead crashed out in the closing stages.
The Formula Regional European champion dominated Saturday’s qualifying race to begin the GP from pole but lost out at the start to Mari Boya.
The Prema driver reclaimed the lead shortly after a safety car restart and had pulled over three seconds clear of the rest before another caution reset the race.
Boya jumped him approaching Lisboa on the resumption and it was when chasing Boya and trying to negate a deficit in the first sector that Slater got wide out of the final R Bend corner and crashed into the barriers.
“It’s Macau, at the end of the day it’s a gamble and you saw on the last lap the guy in third’s managed to win the race just because of a bit of luck, a bit of a slipstream and it all paid off,” Slater told Autosport.
“We knew we were down in sector one so I was pushing very hard in that sector to try and make up for it and to try to keep us in the game and give myself an opportunity to be back in the lead.
“It ended up being a small snap and then you get in the dust and, with the track being so dirty, I was in the dust and that was it.”
Freddie Slater, SJM Theodore Prema Racing, Mari Boya, KCMG ENYA by Pinnacle Motorsport, Theophile Nael, KCMG ENYA by Pinnacle Motorsport
Photo by: Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee
Despite the disappointing conclusion to his Macau weekend, which followed him crashing out of the race last year when fighting for a podium, Slater was still delighted with his pace throughout the event.
“We drove away yesterday and we were driving away again then today,” he said. “I would’ve loved to have won the race, don’t get me wrong, but the pace we’ve had all weekend has been unstoppable and it’s been a really good weekend with the team and it’s been enjoyable.”
Prema Racing team boss Rene Rosin described the race as displaying the “good and the bad of Macau”.
He said his driver did an “amazing job” but was ultimately punished by the Guia circuit’s unforgiving nature.
“He took the lead, he did everything he has to do,” Rosin told Autosport. “He tried to stay in the slipstream of Boya and I think he could’ve waited maybe a bit more but that’s Macau, it’s all in and we will try to get faster, smarter next year.
“I cannot say anything bad to him, it is just Macau.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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