Macau Grand Prix: Erno Kostamo claims pole from impressive newcomer David Datzer, Rob Hodson fourth

Erno Kostamo maintained his position at the top to claim pole for the 54th Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix.

The Finnish rider had headed the free practice times on Thursday and again set the pace in the first qualifying session on Friday on the Penz13 BMW S1000RR, with David Datzer (MTP-Racing by Penz13 BMW) 2.6 seconds behind.

England’s Rob Hodson was third, six tenths further back on the Dafabet Kawasaki ZX-10RR.

In final qualifying, Kostamo improved his time again to a best lap of 2m 28.202s around the 3.8-mile Guia course to secure pole.

Fellow IRRC rider Datzer – a newcomer to Macau – slotted into second, 1.8 seconds down, with South Africa’s Sheridan Morais – also a newcomer – taking third place on the front row on the Syntainics by Penz13 Honda CBR1000RR-R.

“I felt very relaxed,” said Kostamo.

“We made a few changes to the bike since yesterday and it feels better. The BMW is flowing around the track beautifully.

“We had a bit of chatter in the front suspension yesterday but that’s now gone. We’ll make slight changes to the rear but all is good.”

Datzer has been making smooth progress and will now fancy his chances of finishing on the rostrum in Saturday’s two eight-lap races.

“I didn't think I would do the time I did so early in the meeting,” said Datzer.

“Everything feels good. I’m still learning my way around but the circuit is coming to me nicely.”

Hodson slipped back a place to fourth, 3.5 seconds off the top spot, with Lukas Maurer (Maurer Racing by Penz 13 Kawasaki ZX-10RR) and Portugal’s Andre Pires (AP Racing Team with Optimark Honda) rounding out the top six.

“It’s my first time on a Kawasaki at Macao but so far so good,” said Hodson after the first qualifying session.

“We made a couple of small suspension changes for qualifying, put in a new front tyre and will use a new rear tyre for the next session later.”

Welshman Paul Williams was 11th on his Suzuki with fellow debutant Joey Thompson (Heattech BMW) in 12th.

The famous race is back on the Macau programme this year for the first time since 2019 after successive cancellations due to prohibitive Covid-19 restrictions.