It’s been a busy week of preparation for Mikhail Grachev as he gears up for his return to the streets of Macau for the 63rd edition of the classic event.
The Acronis supported racer is back in action with WestCoast Racing competing alongside teammates Gianni Morbidelli and Tiago Monteiro at the venue where he finished third last year.
Very much the man of the moment following a run of five wins in TCR International this year, Grachev joined the WestCoast team and key sponsor Acronis for a media event Thursday in Macau in which he talked about the race weekend ahead.
“This is a fantastic track and yes, it is a bit dangerous but it is very fast and challenging and as a racer that’s always a great challenge,” the Russian racer said. “It’s an honour to be running the Acronis livery again and while it’s too early in the week to say how we’ll do, I can say that I’ll be pushing for a strong result.”
The Thursday running at Circuit Da Guia saw Grachev set the 12th fastest time, noting that the WestCoast team clearly have a strong package for the days ahead.
“P12 was okay but it’s just practice,” he said. “More importantly as a team we are showing well with Tiago (Monteiro) and Gianni (Morbidelli) going P1 and P3. It’s such a big build-up we just need to chip away and hope that the weather stays dry for qualifying on Saturday as that could become a bit of a lottery!”