"Amazing feeling" as Erno Kostamo wins Macau Grand Prix and ends British riders' 22-year domination of famous race

Kostamo had set the pace in practice and qualifying but left himself with some work to do in the eight lap race, which was postponed from Saturday due to safety concerns after oil was dropped on the Guia circuit following a crash in an earlier car race.

Lying fourth after a less than ideal start on the Penz13 BMW, Kostamo picked off England’s Rob Hodson (Dafabet Kawasaki) and newcomer David Datzer (MTP-Racing Penz13 BMW) at Lisboa Bend, before setting his sights on race leader Sheridan Morais (Syntainics Penz13 Honda).

The top three retained their positions until lap three, when Kostamo overtook Morais at the famous Melco hairpin, with Germany’s Datzer also squeezing past into second position.

Kostamo was unable to break away from the impressive Datzer immediately but after a few laps, the more experienced Finn put some daylight between himself and his fellow BMW rider.

The leading trio became spread out as the race progressed and Kostamo wrapped up victory in the 54th edition of the motorcycle race at the finish by 8.2 seconds from Datzer, who had 2.6 seconds in hand over Morais.

Lukas Maurer (Maurer Racing Penz13 Kawasaki) was fourth ahead of Hodson, while Austrian Julian Trummer completed the top six on the DW Racing powered by Dynobike Yamaha.

The last non-British winner of the race was Swiss rider Andreas Hofmann in 1997 and Kostamo said it was an “amazing” feeling to add his name to the illustrious list of past victors.

“The week went as planned,” he said.

“I felt confident from the word go, just focusing on doing my own thing.

“I worked hard on my braking and that paid off. It’s an amazing feeling to win at Macau.”

Runner-up Datzer added: “It has been an amazing experience. To finish second and race with ‘Shez’ and Erno was a thrill. I’m so happy with my lap times too.”

Former World Superbike and Supersport rider Morais said a near-miss in the race led him to slacken off and settle for a safe podium.

“I’m extremely happy for my team, the fans and the organisers,” said the South African native.

“It’s great to reward them with a podium although I would have loved to win. The race went well from the start and I immediately went more than three seconds faster than qualifying but into the tight hairpin I hit a false neutral.

“Into Turn 1, I nearly crashed so after that I took it easy and brought the Honda home in third place.”

Newcomers Joey Thompson (Heattech BMW) and Paul Williams (Potch Racing Suzuki) were ninth and tenth respectively.

The race was being held for the first time since 2019 due to strict Covid-19 restrictions in Macau.

None of the top road racers from previous years participated in the race due to a seven-day quarantine requirement, including leading names Michael Rutter, Peter Hickman, John McGuinness, Ian Hutchinson, Davey Todd and Lee Johnston.