After four attempts to conquer the Guia Circuit, Japan’s Keita Sawa finally claimed a hard-fought victory at the wheel of his SPS Racing Team Lamborghini Gallardo GT3, winning the second running of the Macau GT Cup yesterday. Italian sports cars were well represented in the big GT Cup field in Macau by a number of examples of the Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 and Ferrari 430 GT3.

The Macau GT Cup continues to grow in stature and this year the Macau Grand Prix support race featured a bumper field of 36 drivers who compete across the region and further afield. Last year’s inaugural Macau GT Cup winner, Darryl O’Young of Hong Kong, returned to defend his title on his favourite circuit with LKM Team Jebsen. The two-time Porsche Carrera Cup Asia champion has won three times on the Guia Circuit, and hoped to make it a fourth as he competed in a Porsche Cup S in 2009.

However, O’Young was set to faced a stiff challenge from the likes of former Formula 1 driver Alex Yoong of Malaysia, who debuted a Bufori BMS R1 on the Guia Circuit with Team Bufori BMS Axle Motorsport. The Malaysian is no stranger to the Macau Grand Prix, have competed three times in the Formula 3 race as well as in the Guia Race. Runner-up in the 2008 Macau GT Cup, Danny Watts, was another driver to watch as the Team Road and Track driver competed at Macau for the eighth time, this year in a Porsche 997 GT Cup car.

Keita Sawa, who finished third last year in his third appearance at the famous race, would race a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 with SPS Racing Team and it would be the Japanese driver who eventually sealed the win this year. Sawa grabbed the lead from pole-sitter O’Young's Porsche Cup S at the rolling start and never looked back, although his Hong Kong rival fought hard to the end. The intense battle saw the LKM-Team Jebsen driver cross the line just 0.285 seconds behind Sawa at the end of the 10-lap race. Third was Briton Watts, 23.077 behind the leader, while Malaysia’s Tunku Hammam Sulong was fourth in a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S.

Sawa’s powered past O’Young off the race start to grab the lead, but the Safety Car was soon called into action after Michael Lee’s Chevrolet Corvette Z06 became the first car to go out. When the Safety Car pulled off, racing resumed and two laps later, Watts managed to get by Sri Lankan Dilantha Malagamuwa to go third.

But all eyes were on the fight for the victory between Sawa and O’Young. The Japanese held off his hard-charging rival, who was right on the limit, knocking the walls on more than once occasion. Time and again his attempts to overtake where thwarted by Sawa, and yellow flags in the run to Lisboa bend on the final lap put pay to his hopes of notching up a four Guia Circuit victory.

Said a thrilled Sawa after the finish of the race: “It’s fantastic! Four years is too long to wait to win in Macau. I was not worried by the Safety Car, I just focussed on the restart which, through experience, I know how to handle. On the last lap, the back markers had me worried though. I didn’t feel pressure from Darryl behind me as he was the challenger. He was under more pressure than me.” O’Young could have done no more, but had the consolation of setting the fastest lap: “The Lamborghini has more torque off the line, but the Porsche has a good top speed. I was right on the limit and scraped the walls. That car is just too wide!”