Some of the region's most exciting rising talents began their campaigns to be crowned Asia-Pacific Arrive and Drive Champions this weekend at the 10-corner Circuit of Macau-Coloane in Macau. The championship serves as the qualifying event for the FIA Karting Arrive and Drive World Cup, which will take place in Malaysia later this year.

Following yesterday's free practice sessions, drivers faced sprint qualifying today to determine the starting grids for the qualifying heats and establish the early pecking order of the championship. A randomly generated grid set the starting order for the opening qualifying session, before the order was reversed for the second session, rewarding racing pace while challenging competitors to demonstrate both overtaking ability and defensive racecraft.

After the conclusion of both qualifying sessions, Ørnbøll and Han emerged as the pole sitters in the Junior and Senior categories respectively. Both drivers secured prime grid positions for the first of three qualifying heats as the battle for the inaugural Arrive and Drive Asia-Pacific titles intensified.

Tomorrow's finals are avaliable to watch LIVE and FREE on the FIA Karting YouTube channel.

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Senior

Sprint Qualifying

Hong Kong drivers Chak leong Chan and Jerry Xie started the first sprint qualifying sessions at the front of the grids, defending their track position during the first sprint knowing they'll be trying to find their way through the pack during the second sprint qualifying session where they'll start at the back of the grid.

A disastrous start for Chan which pushed him to the back of the order opened the door for Galimberti to quickly build an advantage as Imjitpanya and Ceng tussled for second position behind. Behind them Kojima rapidly gained positions to challenge for the leading positions and ultimately crossed the line in second with a total gain of 10 places. However, Galimberti's dominant drive to take the chequered flag six seconds clear of Kojima left him as the driver to beat in the senior class.

The second pool of senior drivers was led out by Xie who lost position to Kiaan Shah behind in the opening lap. However, nobody could stop Signe Pejs Ørnbøll surging through the order and into the lead before building a comfortable gap ahead of local driver Lao who had navigated past Shah, Garrow and Garroway to finish in second position during her first sprint qualifying session.

In the reverse grids this afternoon, Kojima started in the lead with Galimberti gaining behind to quickly enter the top three after starting in eleventh place. Galimberti's charge couldn't be stopped as he climbed into second and a rerun of the battle between the Japanese and Italian drivers commenced.

As the gap fell to under half a second, Kojima defended expertly as she could sense the mounting pressure behind her. With seconds left on the clock, Galimberti made his move to bring Tan and Phillips into contention. As the lead swapped between the leading two, Kojima ultimately lost out and fell back to fourth position with Tan sitting just three tenths behind Galimberti who managed to narrowly hold on to his lead to the finish line and claim provisional pole with two sprint wins out of two.

Only Signe Pejs Ørnbøll could challenge for pole position and as she set the fastest lap times in the sprint qualifying stages, a win in the second sprint from her fifth-place start would guarantee her pole position.

Ørnbøll delivered a strong start as the lights went out to sit in second with Tseng and Garrow also gaining several spots to advantage them during the heats stage. Ouyang held the threat of Ørnbøll for as many laps as she could with the Danish driver closing the gap to within four hundredths of a second in the closing couple of minutes.

A thrilling track battle ensued as Ørnbøll sought any opportunity to bank the overtake and Ouyang defended with everything he had. As the last lap boards came out Ørnbøll made her final move in the exit of the turn two hairpin to lead the final lap and take the chequered flag, securing her pole position ahead of Galimberti with both drivers securing double wins and a perfect haul of points.

Heat

As the sole heat of the day got underway both Ørnbøll and Galimberti were eyeing a perfect three wins out of three today. As the lights went out, Galimberti made an opportunistic move for the lead early on which resulted in Dillan Tan claiming second spot with Galimberti relegated to fourth position.

After a lap to reset Galimberti recovered his second position and began to restart his campaign for the heat victory as he squeezed the gap to a comfortable looking Ørnbøll in the lead. As the heat reached its conclusion the window to strike shortened into the final lap when Galimberti made his opportunistic move which secured him the lead and eventual heat win as Ørnbøll struggled to recover her lead.

Behind the leading duo, a tensely fought track battle materialised for the proceeding five places with Lao, Kojima, Garraway and Phillips offering grandstand entertainment for the assembled spectators. Lao managed to hold onto third position with Garraway barely a second behind and Kojima crossing the line in fifth after an eventful heat for the Japanese driver.

Rounding off the heat, Mingjun gained an impressive 12 positions and Tan crossed the line in tenth after sitting in second position during the early stages of the heat.

View the Senior Results

Junior

Sprint Qualifying

Knox Black from Australia and local driver Kin Long Lou took their positions at the front of the grids for the first qualifying session in which neither driver was able to hold on to their track position.

After starting in second position, John Han and Kin Long Lou provided a thrilling race at the front of the pack, exchanging the lead multiple times before a last lap sprint to the line ended in Han taking the first sprint qualifying lead. Han's strong performance demonstrated why he is the current leader in the 2026 FIA Karting Academy Trophy Junior standings as he used each corner of the circuit to his advantage to claim the first win of the weekend.

Elsewhere in the first session, Hanzhi Fu gained four positions as the biggest beneficiary of the sprint and Rivaan Dev Preetham gained three spots to cross the line in second after narrowly eclipsing Lou by just one hundredth of a second.

In the second session, after a first lap retirement Lou opened an epic track battle for the lead with Hong Kong driver Mason Kwong taking full advantage to climb an impressive six places to take the sprint win. Hot on his tail was Liu Bowen who took the challenge on Kwong to the very last corner in a near photo finish, Bowen's respectable gain of four places also left him in a strong position heading into the reverse grid.

For the reverse gids this afternoon, Leonardo Ruiz began the sprint in position one having gained a single place after starting at the back of the grid this morning. Meanwhile, Han and Black, who provided the entertainment this morning, started at the back of the grid setting up a must-watch sprint qualifying session as they sought to navigate through the pack.

Han quickly made up ground, including over Knox Black to sit within the top four as Hanzhi Fu took the lead from Ruiz. After Han made his move on Ruiz he quickly found the rear bumper of Fu to challenge for the heat win as the last lap beaconed. Over the 10 corners, Han sat within three tenths of a second of Fu, making his move in the final corners of the track to take the heat win from starting at the back of the grid, going from last to first and gaining a maximum haul of points.

The final Junior sprint qualifying left only Kwong able to deny Han pole position for the heats if he can take the sprint win from his starting position in fourth. Kwong delivered the start he needed to climb into second position as Reddy sat ahead in the lead.

With three minutes left, Kwong made his move on Reddy to lead the final junior sprint session but only momentarily as Isaac Yoon surged into the lead. Kwong managed to keep the gap to Yoon to within a second as he prepared his last opportunity to claim pole position from John Han. However, as the chequered flag fell, Yoon held position to claim a sprint win and fourth position in the standings. While Kwong's mighty effort fell short of denying Han his pole position, his second-place finish in the standings put him on the front row alongside Han for the first of the heats this afternoon.

Heat

In the first heat, a Hong Kong front row lockout of Han and Kwong set the scene for a brilliant race to end the day's running for the junior drivers. Han dominated the heat, building a two second gap as Kwong had to recover his second position from Preetham who secured an early overtake.

As the heated neared its conclusion, Kwong fell back down the order to end the heat in fifth opening the door for Yoon to claim second position, Preetham initially dropped back out of the top five to recover into fourth and Knox Black gained four positions into third to conclude a positive day for the Australian driver.

Further back Alana Gurney began her bounce back with the biggest gainer of the heat, climbing 8 positions after classifying in 17th position after qualifying.

Action resumes tomorrow at the Circuit of Macau-Coloane as the concluding two heats set the grids for tomorrow afternoon's decisive finals. All of the action is available to watch LIVE and FREE on the FIA Karting YouTube Channel from 10:10 local time (GMT+ 8).

Action resumes tomorrow at the Circuit of Macau-Coloane as the concluding two heats set the grids for tomorrow afternoon's decisive finals. All of the action is available to watch LIVE and FREE on the FIA Karting YouTube Channel from 10:10 local time (GMT+ 8).

Provisional Timings

All times local to Macau (GMT +8)

Sunday 13 September
10:15 – 12:10 Qualifying Heats
13:25 Drivers' Presentation
14:00 Junior Final
15:00 Senior Final