Briton Slater, part of the SJM Theodore Prema Racing line-up, got the jump on pole-sitting Théophile Naël to take a lead he extended almost lap after lap for a winning margin of 5.171s.

“The start was crucial and I had a really good start,” Slater said. “From there on you’re trying to manage the slipstream and see where to block people out and making sure they’re not getting a too good a run.

“Evan was alongside me as well [as Mari] so it was kind of two cars in the middle and it blocks the people behind out so it’s quite hard for them to attack with the slipstream. I looked in my mirror, Mari (Boya] was quite far away and I looked again and he was literally on my rear wing. The slipstream is pretty powerful here and always makes the racing good fun.”

Asked what winning the 72nd Macau Grand Prix would mean to him and his future career prospects, Slater said: “You look at the history of who has won this race, it’s incredible. Those people have gone on to do amazing things so hopefully to be one of those drivers on the list would be a dream come true. It’s always been a race I’ve looked up to, it’s a great race to be a part of and hopefully we can get the job done tomorrow.”

Evan Giltaire ran second initially but was unable to fend off Mari Boya, the Spaniard succeeding at Lisboa on lap five after two earlier attempts were rebuked by the third-place starter.

From sixth on the grid, Boya had almost got ahead of Slater through the opening corners but was unable to find a way by.

FIA Formula 3 driver Naël – who conceded that his lack of recent seat time in FIA Formula Regional machinery contributed to his slower-than-planned getaway – replicated his KCMG ENYA Pinnacle Motorsport team-mate’s pass on Giltaire on lap six to complete the podium.

Naël then underlined his threat for tomorrow’s main event by setting a new FIA FR World Cup track record of 2m15.561s to beat Ugo Ugochukwu’s benchmark of 2m19.107s set during qualifying for the inaugural FIA FR World Cup in 2024.

Taito Kato followed his ART Grand Prix team-mate Giltaire home in fifth to finish as the best Circuito da Guia rookie.

Enzo Deligny (R-ace GP), Mattia Colnaghi (PHM Racing), James Egozi (Saintéloc Racing), Noah Strømsted (Trident Motorsport) and Rashid Al Dhaheri (SJM Theodore Prema Racing) rounded out the top 10.

Oscar Wurz was a non-finisher after contact with Hon Chio Leong damaged his Evans GP entry approaching the Melco Hairpin on lap one. An overshoot at Lisboa cost Polish driver Tymek Kucharczyk a shot at a top-15 finish on his Macau debut.

The 15-lap FIA FR World Cup, which counts for the 72nd Macau Grand Prix, is set to begin at 15:30 local time on Sunday. Watch the actin live on the FIA’s official YouTube channel.