In recognition of the importance of the Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix, as well as it being the FIA F3 Intercontinental Cup - which is exclusive to Macau - the FIA has established the FIA Formula 3 International Trophy. The final rounds will be held here at the Macau Grand Prix, with Saturday’s Qualification Race and Sunday’s Grand Prix each counting as a round.

The 58th running of the prestigious Macau Grand Prix looks set to be one of the best yet, with a host of Formula 3 champions and junior single-seater aces from other categories set to compete for the biggest prize in Formula 3. Leading the 30-strong line-up is a five-car entry from French outfit Signature, which helped Audi DTM ace Edoardo Mortara become the first double winner of the event last year.

Philippe Sinault’s F3 Euro Series squad will run four Dallara-Volkswagens for regular drivers and FIA International Trophy competitors Marco Wittmann, Laurens Vanthoor (runner-up at Macau last year), Daniel Abt and Carlos Munoz, plus a fifth entry for Formula Renault North European Cup champion Carlos Sainz Jr. – son of the double World Rally champion of the same name – and winner of the Formula BMW Pacific race at Macau last year.

Out to prevent a third straight Signature victory in Formula 3’s greatest race will be new Formula 3 Euro Series champion and inaugural FIA Trophy winner Roberto Merhi. The Prema Powerteam driver has been almost unstoppable in Europe this season and will be out to make amends for a Qualification Race crash at Macau last year, which cost the Spaniard a genuine shot at making the podium.

Joining Merhi in Prema Powerteam’s Dallara-Mercedes line-up will be regular Euro Series team-mate Daniel Juncadella.

Leading British Formula 3 team Carlin will bring four of its six regular drivers to Macau this year.  Multiple British F3 race winner Kevin Magnussen – son of 1994 British F3 champion and former Macau competitor Jan Magnussen– plus FIA Trophy racers Carlos Huertas and Jazeman Jaafar, will join new British F3 champion Felipe Nasr in Carlin’s four-strong Dallara-Volkswagen line-up.

This year’s Macau entry is not only about the current stars of Formula 3. A host of former category aces will only add to the intrigue as they attempt to taste the glory that has eluded them during previous visits.

Leading the charge of the ‘outsiders’ is newly crowned GP3 champion Valtteri Bottas. The only man to win the Masters of Formula 3 twice finished third at Macau last year

and returns for a third attempt. He will join up with Anthony Hieatt’s Galaxy Double R Racing outfit, which will run three DallaraMercedes for Bottas, 2007 British F3 champion Marko Asmer, and Mark Webber protégé Mitch Evans, who finished second in Australian F3 in 2010, and won races in GP3 this year for MW Arden.

Bottas’s former ART F3 Euro Series sparring partner Alexander Sims will also return to Macau this year. The 2008 McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner, who finished sixth in GP3 this year after leading the championship early on, has joined up with crack Japanese F3 outfit TOM’S, which ran Keisuke Kunimoto to victory at Macau in 2008.  Fellow Briton Richard Bradley, who finished fifth for TOM’S in the Japanese F3 Championship this year, will join Sims in the team’s two-car Dallara Toyota line-up.

An incredibly strong entry is boosted further by the return of race winning British F3 squad Hitech Racing, which will run three Dallara-Volkswagen this year for GP3 racer Antonio da Costa (who finished sixth at Macau last season with Carlin), German F3 racer Hannes van Asseldonk, and British F3 race winner Pietro Fantin.

Fellow British squad Fortec Motorsport will also appear, running two Dallara Mercedes for British F3 race winners William Buller and Lucas Foresti, while German team Mücke Motorsport will run two similar cars for this year’s Masters of F3 winner Felix Rosenqvist and local Macanese driver Michael Ho.  Rosenqvist’s fellow Swede Jimmy Eriksson will take up a berth at Dallara-Volkswagen squad Motopark, alongside Japanese racer Kimiya Sato.

Fledgling Anglo-Chinese squad Sino Vision Racing will return for its second attempt at the Macau Grand Prix, running two Dallara-Mercedes for team owner/driver Adderly Fong of Hong Kong and Briton Hywel Lloyd.

Japan’s Toda Racing has entered Hideki Yamauchi, third in this year’s Japanese F3 Championship, who finished 13th at Macau on his debut last year.

There are further single-car entries from crack Dutch outfit Van Amersfoort Racing, which will run a Dallara-Volkswagen for German F3 Cup champion Richie Stanaway, and Japanese team Three Bond Racing, which will prepare a Dallara Nissan for Hironobu Yasuda, who missed winning this year’s Japanese F3 championship by just a single point.

With five past or present Formula 3 champions on this year’s grid, up against a smorgasbord of other junior racing talents, November’s “SJM” Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix is certainly not one to be missed.

2011 Macau Grand Prix entry list

No  Driver                    Team            Car/Engine
1  Marco Wittmann (D)        Signature      Dallara-Volkswagen
2  Laurens Vanthoor (B)      Signature      Dallara-Volkswagen
3  Daniel Abt (D)            Signature      Dallara-Volkswagen
4  Carlos Munoz (E)          Signature      Dallara-Volkswagen
5  Carlos Sainz Jr (E)        Signature      Dallara-Volkswagen
6  Hironobu Yasuda (J)        Three Bond      Dallara-Nissan
7  Felipe Nasr (BR)          Carlin          Dallara-Volkswagen
8  Kevin Magnussen (DK)      Carlin          Dallara-Volkswagen
9  Carlos Huertas (COL)      Carlin          Dallara-Volkswagen
10  Jazeman Jaafar (MAL)      Carlin          Dallara-Volkswagen
11  Roberto Merhi (E)          Prema          Dallara-Mercedes
12  Daniel Juncadella (E)      Prema          Dallara-Mercedes
14  Hiedki Yamauchi (J)        Toda            Dallara-Honda
15  Alexander Sims (GB)        TOM's          Dallara-Toyota
16  Richard Bradley (GB)      TOM's          Dallara-Toyota
17  William Buller (GB)        Fortec          Dallara-Volkswagen
18  Lucas Foresti (BR)        Fortec          Dallara-Mercedes
19  Felix Rosenqvist (S)      Mucke          Dallara-Mercedes
20  Michael Ho (MAC)          Mucke          Dallara-Mercedes
21  Pietro Fantin (BR)        Hitech          Dallara-Volkswagen
22  Antonio Felix da Costa (P) Hitech          Dallara-Volkswagen
23  Hannes van Asseldonk (NL)  Hitech          Dallara-Volkswagen
24  Mitch Evans (NZ)          Double R        Dallara-Mercedes
25  Marko Asmer (EST)          Double R        Dallara-Mercedes
26  Valtteri Bottas (FIN)      Double R        Dallara-Mercedes
27  Jimmy Eriksson (S)        Motopark        Dallara-Volkswagen
28  Kimiya Sato (J)            Motopark        Dallara-Volkswagen
29  Adderley Fong (HK)        Sino Vision    Dallara-Mercedes
30  Hywel Lloyd (GB)          Sino Vision    Dallara-Mercedes
32  Richie Stanaway (NZ)      Van Amersfoort  Dallara-Volkswagen