For the first time, the Grand Prix was won by a Spanish driver, as Prema Powerteam's Daniel Juncadella took victory from sixth position on the grid.

Second place was claimed by Felipe Nasr for Carlin, with the podium completed by Qualification Race winner Marco Wittmann for Signature.

[5][6] The 2011 Macau Grand Prix was the fifty-eighth running of the event and the twenty-ninth time the race was held to Formula Three regulations.

[11] Four drivers from the GP3 Series, including champion Valtteri Bottas, also made a return to Formula Three for the event, and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 runner-up Carlos Sainz Jr. was also part of the field, having competed in the Euro Series in its season-closing round at the Hockenheimring order to compete at Macau.

[14] His closest challenger was Prema Powerteam's Daniel Juncadella ahead of Mücke Motorsport's Yuhi Sekiguchi, the other Prema car of Roberto Merhi, and Lucas Foresti completed the top five for Fortec Motorsport ahead of Carlin trio of Kevin Magnussen, Felipe Nasr and Carlos Huertas.

[14] Owing to the wet conditions, the session was stopped on two occasions; the stationary cars of Hironobu Yasuda and Evans at the Melco hairpin caused the first red flag almost 20 minutes into the session,[15] with Felix Rosenqvist the cause of the second stoppage as he took avoiding action to stop himself running into.a line of stationary vehicles at the same turn.

Sekiguchi finished the session in sixth place ahead of top-placed rookie Hannes van Asseldonk and António Félix da Costa with William Buller and Rosenqvist rounding out the top ten.

Daniel Abt, who held the lead of the Grand Prix before crashing out in 2010, was next ahead of Jazeman Jaafar, Marko Asmer, Laurens Vanthoor and Jimmy Eriksson.

Rosenqvist was also given a three-place grid penalty for illegally crossing the pit lane exit line, along with session pacesetter Merhi, Asmer and Signature teammates Vanthoor, Muñoz and Sainz.

Merhi was then given another grid penalty for running into Rosenqvist, taking his total drop for the qualification race to ten places.

In the second 45-minute practice session, Wittmann and Merhi fought for the top spot again as the track had dried out from earlier rain, and drivers were able to use slick tyres for the first time in the meeting.

[20] The rest of the field lined up after penalties as Vanthoor, Sato, Juncadella, Asmer, Muñoz, top debutant Fantin, Jaafar, Abt, van Asseldonk, Stanaway, Sainz, Buller, Yamauchi, Lloyd, Foresti, Bradley, Fong, Yasuda, Eriksson and Evans – who failed to record times within 110% of Wittmann in second qualifying – who would start ahead of Magnussen and Rosenqvist.

Further back, Fantin became the race's first retirement, crashing out heavily, but the safety car was not called for because his vehicle was recovered by a trackside crane.

Also pulling off in the first half of the race were Yasuda via a trip to the pit lane, Félix da Costa, who was languishing at the back of the field after his stall, and Bradley after contact with Evans.

[32] Merhi then set his sights on Nasr, trying on two successive laps at Lisboa corner, before yellow flags halted his challenge for a time as Félix da Costa's car was recovered, and also due to the debris from the Bradley-Evans collision.

Wittmann thus took victory and pole position for the Grand Prix itself, and would be joined on the front row by Nasr after holding off Merhi's advances.

Vanthoor clipped the front of Merhi's car which sent him spinning across the track and eventually collected his teammate Abt, with both out on the spot.

Wittmann held the lead to Lisboa turn with Bottas, Juncadella and Nasr all in close proximity to the Signature driver's car.

Fifth-placed Huertas was not so fortunate in making it round Lisboa corner unscathed, spinning in front of the pack, and pinning Sato in behind him.

Racing resumed at the end of lap three, with Wittmann holding onto the lead from Bottas, despite pressure all the way to Lisboa turn from the pit straight.

[39] Juncadella took the lead, with Sekiguchi moving into second place almost unnoticed, barging his way past Nasr into Lisboa corner, with van Asseldonk following close behind.

At the Mandarin, Yamauchi made an error after being passed by Foresti, and caused a chain reaction within the next few cars to approach the incident.

Magnussen was trying to pass Buller, and went over the back over his car at 165 mph (266 km/h), flying into the catch-fencing on the outside of the circuit, but escaped with just a left knee injury that was caused by him hitting it inside his cockpit.

[41] Nasr held second to the end, holding off Wittmann's ever-increasing pressure that was eventually negated by the appearance of the safety car.

Buller survived unscathed from the incident with Magnussen to finish in sixth place, teammate Foresti, also after a close call, was seventh ahead of Jaafar.