Double Macau GP winner Peter Hickman pulled off another classy victory at the Guia circuit today but said he had been on a steep learning curve after spending 2016 riding a Kawasaki and only seeing his Bathams/SMT BMW for the first time on Thursday.

Hickman nicked the lead from team-mate Michael Rutter in the closing stages of the race and never looked back, crossing the line with a slender half-second lead over the eight-time winner.

“What a hard race. We worked really hard on our race pace during qualifying and I knew I’d be strong in the middle and at the end of the race although seventh on the grid wasn’t ideal. I made a good start although Glenn was riding really well and it was hard to get near him to make a pass,” said Hickman.

“I was good on the exit of turn one and turn two but I got a double slipstream from both Martin and Michael and I struggled to get stopped so I banged it down to first gear, instead of second, to pull it back in. I got round ok and got by Michael and I’ve got to say a massive, massive thank you to the Bathams/SMT Racing team. I hadn’t seen the bike until practice on Thursday and with not having ridden a BMW since this time last year I was on a steep learning curve so to get the job done for the second year in a row is a brilliant feeling.”