MACAO, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Theophile Nael sealed the 2025 FIA FR World Cup title after taking a dramatic victory in Sunday's Macao Grand Prix, passing Mari Boya to take the lead after polesitter and early favorite Freddie Slater had crashed out.
Starting from pole position after having dominated Saturday's qualifying race, the problems began for Slater when he positioned his car oddly on the grid, pointing towards the outside wall.
This compromised his race start, and though he immediately jinked left to defend his position, Boya was able to slip through into the lead, and held the position as they approached the Lisboa Bend for the first time.
Slater then retook the lead on lap four as racing resumed following a safety car deployment, using the slipstream to draw alongside Boya and pass the Spaniard on the outside on the run-up to Lisboa.
The Briton looked comfortable up front, pulling out a lead of three seconds on Boya, but his progress was stunted by a second safety car deployment on lap 9 after Oscar Wurz crashed, and when racing resumed one lap later, it was Boya's turn to use the slipstream to pull alongside and retake the lead.
Pushing hard to keep pace with Boya, Slater retired on lap 11 after running wide at the final "R" bend and clouting the outer wall, and looked visibly frustrated as he climbed out of his wrecked Theodore.
Slater's crash brought out the safety car for a third time, with Boya defending stoutly from Enzo Deligny at the restart, but they reckoned without the intervention of third-placed Nael, who dramatically swept around the outside of both to take the lead.
With Tokiya Suzuki coming to grief at the restart, the safety car was deployed once more to clear the wreckage, and with no time left, the race finished under caution, with Nael crossing the line to take an unlikely win ahead of Boya and Shanghai-born Frenchman Deligny.
Behind the top three, Mattia Colnaghi took fourth, ahead of Taito Kato and Evan Giltaire. Noah Stromsted finished seventh, with Matteo de Palo eighth. Yuki Sano rose from 18th on the grid to ninth by the flag, and Jose Garfias rounded out the top ten. ■
