Oliver Goethe is looking to add some silverware to his 2024 season at the Macau Grand Prix, but it was not all smooth sailing for the German in qualifying.
The 20-year-old is taking part in his second Macau Grand Prix this weekend with MP Motorsport, having finished ninth with Campos Racing in 2023.
Goethe is currently competing in Formula 2 with MP, having made the step up from Formula 3 to replace Franco Colapinto from Monza onwards after the Argentine was promoted to Formula 1 with Williams.
The German finished seventh in what was his second full-season in F3 with Campos, grabbing three podiums across the season, including a win at the Sprint Race in Imola.
Oliver Goethe had a faulty fire extinguisher as he lost out on Macau pole to Formula 3’s Ugo Ugochukwu
The 2024 edition of the Macau Grand Prix will be the first time the event is run with Formula Regional machinery, after the FIA opted to move away from F3 cars due to the increase in speed and the subsequent dangers of it.
Macau is an unforgiving circuit, with tight corners and fast bends making it a real danger, with accidents being incredibly common across the weekend.
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This was no difference in Qualifying 2 as the session was red flagged seven times for multiple incidents. Goethe had been setting the pace in practice and Qualifying 1 – where he topped the time sheets – but after several stoppages, the second session was ended early, with Ugo Ugochukwu edging out Goethe to pole position by just 14 thousandths of a second.
While the German kept himself out of the barriers, Alan Hyde noted the ‘very unusual’ issue he had in qualifying as his fire extinguisher malfunctioned and covered him and his car.
Speaking on commentary for the event on the FIA’s YouTube channel during the fifth red flag, Hyde said: “Three cars in the 2:19’s, one is Ugo Ugochukwu.
“Tenth of a second behind is number one, Oliver Goethe, having had a very unusual pitstop during one of the red flag periods were the fire extinguisher had deployed and needed cleaning up, not just Oliver Goethe himself, but also the interior and exterior of the car.”
Oliver Goethe is having a difficult start to life in Formula 2
Goethe will be hoping to fight at the front and take victory in Macau this weekend after what has been a challenging start to his F2 career.
The German was taking over of his debut race at Monza before the first corner, before going on to finish 16th in the Feature Race the next day.
The next round at Baku faired no better for him, as Goethe finished 21st in the Sprint Race and was again eliminated before the first corner in the Feature Race after a horrifying accident for Pepe Marti as he hit Kush Maini who had stalled on the grid.
It is currently unclear as to whether Goethe will stay in F2 full-time next season or return for a third year in F3, but a win at Macau would certainly catch the attention of MP, who will be considerably him for a seat in 2025.