SJM THEODORE PREMA RACING TEAM PRINCIPAL TEDDY YIP JR. ‘GLAD’ TO SEE MACAU GP RETURNING TO ‘WHAT IT WAS’

After three years of Macau’s border restrictions, the Theodore Racing team’s head Teddy Yip Jr. is “glad” to finally be back in town for the Macau Grand Prix.

“I’m glad the borders are finally open,” Yip said during a press conference held at the Grand Lisboa Macau on Tuesday. “It’s nice to see the grand prix return to what it was.”

Yip’s team continued to participate in the local grand prix during the pandemic, when the Macau Government imposed strict border restrictions. However, the Formula 3 races were cancelled and only returned this year.

Tuesday’s press conference – also attended by SJM Managing Director Daisy Ho – was held to introduce SJM Theodore PREMA Racing team’s three Formula 3 drivers Dino Beganovic, Gabriele Mini and Paul Aron, who are racing at the 70th Macau Grand Prix this weekend.

Aron said he was looking forward to competing in this year’s race, hoping to get a podium position like his brother Ralf, who finished third in the local F3 race in 2017.

“My brother finished on the podium a few years ago [in Macau], so obviously my goal is to one-up that and go for the win,” he said.

Last weekend, SJM Theodore PREMA Racing team’s driver Arvid Lindblad won this year’s Formula 4, while teammate Charles Leong came second.

Lindblad’s winning came with a slight controversy as the 16-year-old British racer drank the champagne given to him for a customary victor’s champagne shower, hence breaking the local underage drinking law.

Macau’s Sports Bureau (ID) has meanwhile apologised and assured that such incident would never happen again. The case is still under investigation by the city’s Health Bureau (SS).

Theodore Racing was founded in 1976 by Yip’s father, the late Medan-born Dutch-Indonesian businessman and amateur racer Teddy Yip, whose involvement in the Macau Grand Prix up until the late 1980s helped catapult the event further into international recognition. Among the drivers who raced for the team then were Keke Rosberg and the late Ayrton Senna.

Yip revived Theodore Racing in 2013, following in his father’s footsteps into the world of motorsport.

This year not only marks the 70th anniversary of the Macau Grand Prix and the 10th anniversary of Theodore Racing’s revival but also the 20th anniversary of the passing of Yip’s father, whose legacy has been immortalised in a few segments of the Macao Grand Prix Museum. (Jonathan Mohr)