Ticktum, who won the race in 2017 and 2018, agreed terms yesterday (Tuesday) with Rodin Carlin and his name was added to the entry for the 18-19 November event just a couple of hours before it was unveiled.
The 24-year-old has been a regular in Formula E with NIO 333 since his last season on the junior single-seater ladder in 2021, when he finished fourth in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with Carlin.
Before then, he competed with the team in the Macau GP in 2019, and also had a one-off F3 European Championship outing with the squad in 2016 in order to be eligible to make his Macau debut later that year.
Ticktum joins Rodin Carlin F2 racer Zane Maloney in the team for Macau, with the other seat yet to be filled.
“When you’re looking at an event and you want to go and win it, then you look at who can win it,” Rodin Carlin boss Trevor Carlin told Motorsport.com.
“I was starting to think about who that can be, and obviously Dan’s one of the best possible drivers you can get for Macau.
“He’s really good mates with ‘Boyo’ [Anthony Hieatt, head of Double R Racing, with which Ticktum competed in Macau in 2016], so I asked him to have a chat with Dan, and he said in principle he’d be quite keen.
“Dan responded yesterday and said he’d love to do it – so it’s game on!”
Although the team has a successful Macau record, Rodin Carlin does not have a good recent record in the Formula 1-supporting FIA F3 rounds.
“Obviously they’ve been struggling a little bit this year, and the car is probably better than what it’s been finishing this season,” Ticktum told Motorsport.com.
“A good run at Macau makes it look a lot better, and I think he [Carlin] wants a driver to get in who’s proven there and deliver what the car is capable of.”
Carlin added that he had thought about contacting Formula E and sportscar star Antonio Felix da Costa, who has also won twice in Macau – both times with Carlin, in 2012 and 2016.
“I wanted to ask Antonio to come back, but I thought, ‘I can’t now’,” he said. “He’s a professional driver now in sportscars and you might think that his time has passed [for competing in F3 in Macau].
“The time hasn’t passed for Dan, but it would be a dream to do it with Antonio too – if he said he wanted to, I’d take him!
“Macau is still the greatest race, and we do it as a bit of a showcase for the team and for the sport – for the right reasons.”
Carlin said that he has no worries about Ticktum adapting to the current FIA F3 car, which he has not driven since Macau 2019.
“He’ll be fine – he’s a real driver, and real drivers just get in and get on with it,” he said.
“Certainly by the end of quali one he’ll be totally in tune with the car and then he’ll just drive the hell out of it.
“Hopefully this can be a springboard for Dan to remind everyone of what he can do.”
Ticktum also has no concerns about the lack of testing opportunity.
“I’m going to try and get in something else if I can but it’s all a bit late notice and the chances are I won’t run anything,” he said.
“But I’ve been good in the past at getting in and getting used to things quickly. Macau is such a different kettle of fish to anything else.
“I just want to drive a relatively light, not bad single-seater car around the best track in the world. It’s my favourite track.
“The offer to do it, I’m not going to turn it down that’s for sure, and I’ll probably keep doing it until I’m 30 or whatever.”
Additional reporting by Stefan Mackley
