Maro Engel has won a dramatic FIA GT World Cup race as he defied a five-second penalty for causing a collision to top a remarkable wet contest around the Macau Guia circuit.
The first five laps were run behind the safety car amid torrential rain earlier in the morning but the race exploded into life when it finally went green.
BMW's Raffaele Marciello was aiming to score a third consecutive win in this event and instantly built a second's lead at the start as it was clear the second-placed WRT-run BMW of Dries Vanthoor was struggling in the tricky conditions.
Vanthoor soon found himself under pressure from Antonio Fuoco's AF Corse Ferrari 296 and the Le Mans 24 Hours winner darted to the inside at R Bend at the end of lap eight of 16 to make a sensational pass.
Mercedes driver Engel was the next to challenge Vanthoor and made slight contact in the Mountain section of the track, which tipped the BMW into the barriers through the Solitude Esses and he had to retire with a broken toe link.
Marciello's advantage was 1.6s at this stage but a flying Fuoco was instantly on the BMW's tail, setting up a thrilling final seven laps.
He was soon joined by Engel as the trio ran bumper to bumper for several laps, but none of them quite able to make a move.
That was until Fuoco completed a carbon copy of his pass on Vanthoor to grab the lead at R Bend at the conclusion of lap 14.
But Marciello attempted to retaliate immediately and almost drew alongside again across the timing line. Both then appeared to outbrake themselves into Lisboa with Marciello also tapping the Ferrari, sending them both down the escape road.
A watching Engel gladly took the lead while Fuoco plummeted to ninth and Marciello retired to the pits.
But there was still to be one final twist as Engel was handed a 5s penalty for the earlier brush with Vanthoor.
However, the Team GMR driver crossed the line with no other cars in sight to take the flag some 11.6s ahead of the rest and successfully negating the penalty.
Augusto Farfus and Sheldon van der Linde salvaged some pride for BMW with the pair completing the podium, albeit well adrift of the winner.
The Absolute Racing Porsches of Alessio Picariello and Laurens Vanthoor were fourth and fifth while Christopher Haase's Global Racing Audi rounded out the top six.
Edoardo Mortara was in seventh, the best of the Lamborghinis as the brand made its return to this event.
Results:
| Cla | Nº | Driver | Car / Engine | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 130 | Maro Engel | Mercedes | 45'44.519 | |
| 2 | 89 | Augusto Farfus | BMW | 45'51.160 | 6.641 |
| 3 | 31 | S.van der Linde | BMW | 45'54.818 | 10.299 |
| 4 | 911 | A.Picariello | Porsche | 45'55.400 | 10.881 |
| 5 | 25 | Laurens Vanthoor | Porsche | 45'55.724 | 11.205 |
| 6 | 33 | C.Haase | Audi | 45'56.988 | 12.469 |
| 7 | 63 | Edoardo Mortara | Lamborghini | 45'57.544 | 13.025 |
| 8 | 36 | Ricardo Feller | Audi | 45'58.340 | 13.821 |
| 9 | 83 | Antonio Fuoco | Ferrari | 45'59.372 | 14.853 |
| 10 | 77 | D.Juncadella | Mercedes | 46'00.456 | 15.937 |
| 11 | 50 | Yifei Ye | Ferrari | 46'03.594 | 19.075 |
| 12 | 7 | Ralf Aron | Mercedes | 46'04.258 | 19.739 |
| 13 | 88 | Laurin Heinrich | Porsche | 46'04.457 | 19.938 |
| 14 | 51 | Daniel Serra | Ferrari | 46'05.717 | 21.198 |
| 15 | 4 | Thomas Preining | Porsche | 46'06.688 | 22.169 |
| 16 | 566 | Hong Li Ye | Porsche | 46'07.358 | 22.839 |
| 17 | 10 | Adderly Fong | Audi | 46'31.569 | 47.050 |
| 18 | 1 | R.Marciello | BMW | 43'44.356 | |
| 19 | 99 | Jules Gounon | Mercedes | 46'36.797 | |
| 20 | 30 | James Yu | Audi | 46'41.455 | |
| - | 32 | Dries Vanthoor | BMW | 28'34.135 | |
| - | 19 | Matteo Cairoli | Lamborghini | 20'08.314 | |
| - | 8 | Luca Engstler | Lamborghini | - |
