America's Ferrucci exultant after first Macau F3 outing

Santino Ferrucci made a promising Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix debut this weekend, as the American placed his Fortec Motorsports Dallara-Mercedes eighth in Sunday's Final. The 16-year-old was impressively smooth throughout the prestigious Asian event, belying his age and lack of experience around the infamous 3.85-mile street circuit.

Making only his fourth appearance for Fortec following outings for the British team at Imola and Hockenheim in the F3 Euro Series and Brands Hatch in the British F3 Championship Ferrucci was stymied by caution flags and ultimately a red flag in the second and final qualifying session on Friday, but the Connecticut-born teen competently made up places despite a mid-race safety car period and at the checkered flag, placed 12th just 11.7sec behind the winner of the 10-lap qualifying race on Saturday.

Starting the Grand Prix from the sixth row of the grid, Santino went on to record a fabulous eighth place in the 15-lap race – despite being up against drivers with far more experience in the ultra-competitive category. It is believed Ferrucci is the youngest driver ever to achieve a top-eight result in the 61-year history of the Macau event.

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"Macau has been a fantastic experience. It's by far the most difficult circuit I have ever raced on but is now my favorite track!," enthused Ferrucci. "It was my first time there so I took things easy on Thursday, learning the track and remained on the same set of tires for practice and first qualifying.

"I was really nervous for my first-ever start at Macau until the formation lap but got a really good start. The car was very good with a lot of top-end speed. Finishing 12th in my first race there was respectable but then to finish eighth in the actual Grand Prix on Sunday was amazing.

"I made a good start and was up to eighth before the race was red-flagged on the opening lap due to an accident at Lisboa. After a long delay, the race was re-started and I again got off to a good start and cruised home eighth."

Ferrucci was impressed by the unique atmosphere of the Chinese event, which has become a traditional end-of-season all-star race for F3.

"The atmosphere, the large crowds and the pure adrenaline in Macau is hard to explain but I loved it – it's been a fantastic experience," he said. "Fortec [Motorsports] put me in a relaxed frame of mind all weekend and I'm thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere within the team. I also learned a lot this weekend from my coach Euan Henkey.

"I can't wait to start winter testing in preparation for my first full season in the 2015 FIA Euro Series."