By Davey Todd was-crowned the victor of the 57th Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix after a dominant performance between the yellow and black barriers of the Guia Circuit.
This was Todd’s second victor’s trophy in Macau, but his first race win, the 2024 edition being-awarded based solely on qualifying when the race proper was-cancelled due to rain.
Rain had threatened the 2025 event too, with qualifying moved to a one-hour session at 7am on race day.
Qualifying Summary:
Qualifying saw Rob Hodson of SMT Racing take the provisional lead in the opening minutes, posting a time of 2:32.839, bettered shortly afterwards by first-timer to Macau Mitch Rees with a 2:32.804.
But Davey Todd laid down the gauntlet eight minutes into the session and never relinquished the top of the timesheet, going purple in every sector of the 6.2km circuit with 2:25.637 out of the gate.
Flying Finn Erno Kostamo challenged, getting to second-fastest with 36 minutes to go, but Todd had even more in the tank, improving in every sector to post an average speed of 153.6km/h at 2:23.413.
With 10 minutes to go, Peter Hickman came out for a final push for pole from provisional third. Finding time in sectors 2 and 4 in the hill section, Hickman nevertheless found himself pushed down to fourth by Paul Jordan, who was following close behind on the road and taking advantage of the slipstream.
Hickman edged away from Jordan and with one minute to go leapfrogged Kostamo for second place. But the Finnish rider was-not-done. With a final lap and the chequered flag waiting, Kostamo improved throughout the lap and snatched second place at the last.
Race Report:
The competitors had only a little over an hour to rest, make-adjustments and prepare for the race, as the temperature rose for a sunny start at 9.10am.
Todd made a good getaway, leading through the first corners and soon began to pull out a gap. Hickman’s start was strong but more contested, seeing him move into second at the first bend. But Kostamo retook second place at Mandarin and led into and through Lisboa.
Kostamo held off Hickman for two laps but missed his braking point at Lisboa and continued into the runoff area, rejoining in fifth place. With the road clear ahead between Hickman and Todd, the chase was on.
The same was true for Kostamo, who began his fight-back making short work of Maurizio Bottalico and a pass on Rob Hodson for third at Mandarin on the very next lap.
With nine laps remaining, Macau debutant Bottalico was chasing Hodson, while behind him Lukas Maurer claimed sixth from Davo Johnson after a duel through the curves on Guia Hill.
The race saw three retirements: Sam West (2 laps), Michael Sweeney (5 laps) and Paul Jordan (6). Jordan’s form had been strong in practice and qualifying, but a brake issue ended his race.
With six laps remaining, the 8TEN Racing teammates and co-owners Todd and Hickman were in a comfortable one-two, with Todd posting a 2:23.702, four tenths off the all-time lap record.
On lap 8, Todd led Hickman by seven seconds, while further back Bottalico and Maurer battled for fifth. Rob Hodson by now was well clear of the pair but showed few signs of relaxing. Approaching the line to begin lap 10, Hodson came flying through the final turn at R Bend at maximum lean, controlling a wheelie as he accelerated over the grid markings.
Lap 10 saw former IRRC Superbike Champion Maurer pass Bottalico at last, doing it on the brakes into the 90-degree righthander at Lisboa.
The final tour (twelfth lap) was essentially-a victory lap for Todd, who crossed the line with a 10.021 second gap to Hickman in second. Kostamo’s climb back to third showed grit and skill, while Rob Hodson crossed the line in fourth for his best result in Macau.
Manxman Marcus Simpson overtook Laurent Hoffman for fourteenth on the last lap, while Mikey Evans chased Mitch Rees all the way to the line. The New Zealander, doubtless rightly pleased with his first visit to the Guia Circuit, gave a cheery wave to the crowds in the Reservoir Stand while the top three stopped at the Lisboa Grandstand to celebrate.
Speaking to the press after the race, race winner Todd was in good spirits.
“It was great, actually maybe a little bit of a boring race,” said Todd. “I was really looking forward to a nice battle with my teammate there and I knew Erno would be fast in the race as well. I just got away on the first lap.
I tried to get my head down. I know we had some strong pace in qualifying, but the race is always a different thing. And also, I knew Pete would be strong towards the end of the race.
I know he likes the tyres that he’s on and he always comes strong, but I just tried to get my head down from the beginning and put in a couple of half decent laps. I got that gap pretty much straight away and then just basically managed it for the rest of the race.
The only thing I’m disappointed about is I didn’t realise we’d get so close to the lap record. I felt like I was riding a way off the lap record. So, because we were so close, I’m disappointed.
I wish I knew the lap time and then I’d have pushed a little bit more maybe to get the lap record. But hey, we’re not here for lap records. We’re here to win races and we did just that.”
Runner-up Hickman said:
“I made a really good start and got second into turn one, which I was really happy with,” stated Hickman, citing a “weird technical issue” in the opening laps. “It cleared itself up but for the first lap I was having to roll the throttle a little to change gear.”
Having lost second to Erno Kostamo on the run up to Lisboa, Hickman then ‘got a little bit scared behind Erno.
“I like him a lot, he’s a great rider, and unfortunately, he was a little too excited on the first two laps, made a lot of really big mistakes, and fortunately he’s got away with it.
But it scared me more than anything and I rolled right back off, because if he’d gone down, I was going down with him. I backed off a little bit and fortunately for me he stayed on and he went straight on at Lisboa.”
Hickman was pleased with a 2:24.072 time around the Guia Circuit, which he noted was much faster than he’d managed in qualifying. “I’ve shown that I’ve still got the pace. I just need to work on myself now over this winter period to get the stamina back. I’ve got the strength; I just haven’t got the stamina.”
Third place finisher, Imatranajo, Horice, Frohburger Dreieck lap-record holder Kostamo said:
“The first two or three laps is the race,” “We’re pushing hard and, yeah, the stupid mistake is braking too late at Lisboa. But I’m very happy to race here and to get my best lap time.”
Race winner, confirmed 2025 King of The Roads Champion Todd, added:
“I’m honestly already looking forward to getting back out there,” Todd told reporters. “I just wish we had a couple of races. It’d be nice to get a few more sessions here. We come halfway around the world to get like three sessions – we did practice, qualifying and the race and that’s it. So, it’d be nice to do a few more laps.
I know the fans love the bikes and we all put on a great show for everybody. I’m looking forward to getting back next year, obviously depending on a lot of factors – on sponsors and everything else but I think me and Pete both want to be back and he’s probably looking for a bit of redemption, so I think we’ll be looking forward to a good battle next year.”
57th Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – Race Result:
1st – Davey Todd
2nd – Peter Hickman
3rd – Erno Kostamo
4th – Rob Hodson
5th – Lukas Maurer
6th – Maurizio Bottalico
7th – David Johnson
8th – Mitch Rees
9th – Michael Evans
10th – Phil Crowe
11th – Amalric Blanc
12th – Eddy Ferre
13th – Don Gilbert
14th – Marcus Simpson
15th – Laurent Hoffmann
16th – Paul ‘Potchy’ Williams
17th – Ryan Whitehall
Photo credit: GCS
Words by Tom McGrenery
