Freddie Slater powered to victory in the FIA FR World Cup Qualification Race at the 72nd Macau Grand Prix after overtaking pole-sitter Théophile Naël at the start and steadily pulling away to win by 5.171 seconds. Slater said the launch was crucial and that managing the powerful slipstream on the Guia Circuit was key to defending against early attacks from Evan Giltaire and Mari Boya.
Boya, who started sixth, climbed to second after finally passing Giltaire on lap five, while Naël recovered from a slow start—caused by limited recent seat time in Formula Regional—to overtake Giltaire a lap later and secure third. Naël also set a new track record of 2:15.561, beating the previous mark from 2024.
Taito Kato finished fifth and was the top Macau rookie, followed by Enzo Deligny, Mattia Colnaghi, James Egozi, Noah Strømsted, and Rashid Al Dhaheri in the top 10.
Incidents included Oscar Wurz retiring after early contact and Tymek Kucharczyk losing a potential top-15 due to an overshoot at Lisboa.
The 15-lap FIA FR World Cup main race—also counting as the 72nd Macau Grand Prix—will take place on Sunday at 15:30 local time, with live coverage on the FIA’s YouTube channel.