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BMW M Motorsport left the twisting streets of Macau with more silverware after a strong showing at the FIA GT World Cup. Raffaele Marciello steered the #53 BMW M4 GT3 EVO run by ROWE Racing to second place in Sunday’s showcase, mastering the unforgiving Guia Circuit to secure a hard-earned podium. Alongside him, Sheldon van der Linde staged a forceful recovery drive in the Shell-liveried #31 BMW M4 GT3 EVO for Team WRT, turning a bruising start to the weekend into a charging run to sixth.
The event followed its traditional format, with Friday qualifying setting the tone ahead of a short sprint on Saturday and the longer feature race on Sunday. Marciello lined up only fifth after a modest qualifying run, while van der Linde’s contact with the barriers left him without a representative time and rooted to the back. Both BMW crews went on the attack in the qualification race, with Marciello climbing to fourth and van der Linde battling through the pack to 13th on the road, later promoted to 12th after a rival’s penalty.
When the lights went out for the main race, Marciello made his start count. A sharp launch and decisive first lap moved the Swiss driver up to second, a position he defended expertly around the concrete walls and blind apexes that define Macau. The Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco had just enough pace in hand to stay out of reach at the front, but the BMW M4 GT3 EVO behind never relented, underlining the car’s balance and braking stability on one of the world’s toughest street tracks. Further back, van der Linde threaded his way through the inevitable first-lap chaos, then pulled off a standout overtake to lock in sixth place and complete a gain of ten positions from his original starting slot.
For BMW M Motorsport, the weekend underlined both the competitiveness of the updated BMW M4 GT3 EVO package and the strength of its partner teams. ROWE Racing and Team WRT extracted strong race pace from their cars despite compromised starting positions, while Marciello and van der Linde showed how committed driving and disciplined racecraft can turn a tricky Macau weekend into a double top-ten result. With the GT3 season now concluded, attention shifts to the coming year – but a hard-fought podium on the Guia Circuit is a powerful way to close the campaign.
