SJM Theodore PREMA Racing takes early lead in first Macau GP qualifying
With a scintillating drive on Thursday’s Qualifying 1 session, Freddie Slater led the opening day of the 2025 Macau Grand Prix. While a late red flag forced drivers to come back on track for one final push, the British sensation posted an excellent lap of 2m15.708 to beat his closest competitor by more than 3 tenths of a second.
Slater was in the leading mix all day and performed since practice. He was already on a solid run when the interruption came, but delivered without a hitch and all again in the closing moments. The restart provided him with a single lap, which he took full advantage of, placing SJM Theodore PREMA Racing at the top of the table.
Rashid Al Dhaheri and Charles Leong focused on gaining insight into the car and navigating the challenges of the Guia circuit. The Emirati racer ended up in seventh place and showed promising pace. The Macau-based racer, a 2-time Macau GP winner, is making strong progress with the challenging Formula Regional car he is driving for the first time in a race setting.
The 72nd Macau Grand Prix weekend continues with Free Practice 2 and Qualifying 2 tomorrow, which will set the starting grid for Saturday’s Qualifying Race.
Freddie Slater, driver car #11
“We started practice really well and with the right approach. I think qualifying was quite strong. We still have some work to do overnight to find more pace and the track is going to ramp up with more rubber to keep pushing. We reset for tomorrow, another practice and qualifying, another important day, and then we focus on the racing after.”
Rashid Al Dhaheri, driver car #12
"The first day here in Macau was quite positive, I learned a lot of things on my side. Macau is a lot about driving, and there are a few improvements that can be done for tomorrow. I like the car, and we are in a good place. There are some fine-tunings to make, but we can make a good step. Qualifying 2 will be quite important, as the track normally evolves quite a lot. Full push for tomorrow."
Charles Leong, driver car #31
“Everything feels quite new to me, especially the car, even though I drove it some time ago, it feels different. In addition, jumping from a GT car straight into a Formula car was not easy at all. I have been mainly adapting so far, trying to put everything together step by step. If we put everything together, without getting traffic in Qualifying 1, I think a top-10 could have been possible. I’m getting everything up step by step. Hopefully, tomorrow I can give a send and can put everything together.”